Yes, that's right, the SLR hasn't exactly been selling well. What's that, you say? You mean, if you had $452,750, you wouldn't go buy an automatic-transmission-equipped Mercedes---no matter how cool and pimpy and McLaren-built it was---either? Us too.
But the folks at Mercedes/McLaren/AMG have decided to boost sales with that cheapest of all sales tactics: horsepower. And hearkening back to the heroics of two men fifty years ago in an SLR model that had two hundred times the charisma, soul, and personality of the car on offer today. So for 2007, we have the Mercedes-Benz SLR 722 Edition, a more powerful, more tarted-up version of the modern "ordinary" SLR.
Power rises by a scant 33 hp. The AMG-built, supercharged 5.5-liter V-8 now puts out a whopping 650 hp. Yep, you're right: the 0-60 time drops, too. The SLR 722 takes only 3.6 seconds to reach the big six-oh, or two-tenths quicker than the standard SLR. Stiffer suspension, new 19-inch wheels, and brake rotors twenty millimeters larger are also part of the package. Top speed rises by one mile per hour to 209; a modified front spoiler and rear diffuser help keep things on the ground.
(In case you were wondering, 722 was the car number worn by Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson's 1955 Mille-Miglia-winning 300 SLR; the number, like all Mille Miglia car numbers, indicated the car's start time. In Moss and Jenkinson's case, that time was 7:22 in the morning.)