The Mercedes-Benz 300SL – Reinvented

In 1952, Slow Poke by Pee Wee King and His Golden West Cowboys was the number one song played on jukeboxes. We are not sure what the song is referring to, and we’ll leave that up to interpretation. Sidney Holland was Prime Minister and the government was looking at ways to offset rising house prices and demand with a state run housing scheme. Sound familiar?

Perhaps most importantly though, 1952 was the year that Mercedes-Benz gave the world gull-winged doors via its 300SL sportscar. The roof hinged doors inspired generation after generation of supercars and seven decades later that continues.

At the Geneva Motor Show last year, Pininfarina and HKG (Hybrid Kinetic Group) paid homage to that 50’s door creation in their fourth concept car collaboration with the eco-friendly HK GT. The concept car has a very Mercedes look to it, as you’d expect. It has a body design with LED lighting to enhance the smooth, aerodynamic look. Micro-turbine generators (with the help of a range extender) power the car with its small battery of 38 kWh, but give it a range of 1,000 km. It can pump up from 0 to 60 from stand-still in 2.7 seconds.

Eloquently designed inside, the car has the look and feel of stepping into a chauffeured limousine. Hand-laid leather dons the seats, dashboard and inner door panels which really accentuates HKG’s identity in using Italian styles. The coolest thing about the interior is that, no matter how your style of driving, lights change accordingly. Blue while you’re cruising and red when you’re racing!

With their main production happening in China, the cars will hopefully be out soon, but – what with the concept car being only limited edition – it isn’t known as of yet how many they’ll be making.