Official press photos of the new generation Mercedes-Benz SL-Class have surfaced online before Mercedes themselves have even had the honour of officially introducing their new coupé.

Although we have some reservations about the disproportionally shaped headlamps, the overall design of the 2012 Mercedes-Benz SL is quite nice. Still, the almost identical resemblance to the new SLK-Class is a bit too strong for our liking – especially for a flagship roadster model that has such rich heritage. In previous generations you could always distinguish the two roadsters quite easily.

The new SL has managed to shed a substantial amount of weight, around 140 kilograms, thanks to extensive use of aluminium body panels. The stiffness of the body has also been increased by 20 percent, which bodes well for greater driving dynamics and responsiveness.

Details on the engines aren’t known so far, but we can expect a range of petrol engines and one hybrid power source. Together with the reduced weight the new engines are expected to offer improved fuel economy of roughly 30 percent. The SL63 AMG and SL65 AMG models can be expected to arrive in late 2012 or early 2013, and then of course there will need to be a Black Series.