Ever since 1954 Mercedes has offered its ever growing clientele the luxurious SL-Class. When 2013 came around it was time for Mercedes to offer a new model and then came the R321 SL. Having been formally launched at the 2012 North American International Auto Show the R321 would be produced on the same basis of all SL's before, to maximise luxury and offer a superb all-round grand-touring hard-top convertible. With the introduction of this new model came an all-new all aluminium body shell which offered a huge weight reduction with it weighing approximately 110KG than if a steel shell was used as with previous models making the new R321 SL a more agile car that would tackle corners with greater ease than ever before. A mid-cycle facelift was introduced in 2016 for the 2017 model year. Cosmetically, every SL received a revised front end, front grille treatment and larger non-functional side 'vents' behind the front wheels. All variants also received adaptive LED front headlights with integrated daytime running lights and turn signals, leaving the below-bumper intake area free from lighting. The LED tail lights received single-colour red or red-and-amber lenses instead of the red and white of the pre-facelift models. Front and rear bumper assemblies were redesigned to align more closely with recent models introduced by Mercedes, while selected convenience and driver assistance technologies, introduced earlier on various other Mercedes models, were made optionally available, including revised Active Body Control (ABC), now with the "Curve Tilting" function from the S-Class Coupe. The SL400 had its power output upped to 362bhp which would now race the car from 0-60 in just 4.9 seconds.
