Mercedes-AMG SL 43 Under Consideration For The US

Earlier this week, Mercedes-AMS introduced a new entry-level version of the all-new SL roadster. It comes with a four-cylinder petrol engine equipped with an F1-inspired electric turbocharger. An AMG roadster without a V8 under the hood might not sound very appealing, but bear in mind that the SL43 only hits 62 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour) in just 4.9 seconds. Mercedes has yet to confirm its plans to bring the new base SL to the United States, but at least the doors don’t seem closed for now.

Car and Driver contacted the German automaker and asked whether to sell the four-cylinder SL in the US market. Mercedes did not provide firm confirmation but said the beautiful roadster was “currently under consideration for the US market.” That’s definitely not much, but at least it’s not a negative answer.

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If it received the go-ahead for sale in the United States, the SL43 would obviously be much more affordable than the V8-powered model. Unfortunately, Mercedes hasn’t released pricing for the roadster yet, but we expect the SL55 to start at around $135,000, while the top-of-the-range SL63 will start at around $165,000. As for the SL43, the figure of around $115,000 sounds reasonable to us.

The new base model 2.0 liter engine is known internally as the M139 and uses a single electric exhaust gas turbocharger with an electric motor mounted on the turbocharger shaft. It spins that shaft until the exhaust gases take over and continues to produce thrust like a traditional turbocharger.

The result of this magic trick is a peak output of 381 horsepower (284 kilowatts) and a decent 354 pound-feet (480 Newton-meters) of torque starting at 3,250 rpm. There’s a starter-generator system that can add an extra 14 hp (10 kW) to the mix for a short period of time. The nine-speed automatic gearbox sends all power to the rear wheels exclusively.