Daimler AG has filed to renew its trademark for the SLR name, potential evidence that the German automaker is open to building a next-generation version of the supercar.

The Mercedes-Benz SLR was introduced for 2003 and enjoyed a seven-year production run until production ended in 2010.  The car was eventually replaced by the SLS AMG and Mercedes-AMG currently has its sports car focus on the AMG GT and its variants, but it seems the company hasn’t completely given up on the SLR badge.

Mercedes’ rights to the SLR name were due to expire on March 4th unless the automaker filed an application to extend or renew the trademark. The automaker decided to completely renew the trademark rather than just extend it, which may give it a larger window of time to potentially use it again. Mercedes has given no indication it wants to revive the SLR name, however, so it’s best not to get too excited about this turn of events. If a next-generation SLR ever did come about, it wouldn’t be engineered in partnership with McLaren like the outgoing car was. Not only did McLaren’s and Mercedes’ Formula 1 partnership end long ago, which was the inspiration behind the SLR project, McLaren now has its own, well-established road car program and doesn’t need a partner like AMG to get its badge on a road car.

We’re still waiting for Mercedes-AMG to drop the highly anticipated Black Series version of the AMG GT, so a new SLR, if it is indeed in the works, is very, very far away, we imagine.

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