Mercedes plans gull-winged sports car

Mercedes-Benz is planning to build a top-of-the-market gull-winged sports car to compete with the most expensive Porsches, German business newspaper Handelsblatt was set to report on Monday.

The 2010 model would replace the existing SLR McLaren, which is built by the British sports-car company McLaren and sold with a Mercedes-Benz badge. The company declined comment on Sunday on the report, saying it would not discuss future model planning.

The SLR McLaren costs about euros 400,000 ($A679,636) including 19-per-cent sales tax.

The new high-performance car would be based on the existing Mercedes SL and would be entirely made in Germany by Mercedes-Benz, a unit of German company Daimler, the newspaper said. The Age