Few partnerships in the automotive world have been more fruitful than that of Mercedes-Benz and McLaren.

Mercedes-Benz started supplying engines to McLaren for Formula 1 in the mid-1990s, and over the course of the following two decades, McLaren racked up numerous victories.

The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren emerged after the partnership deepened in 2000, when Daimler AG acquired 40 percent of the McLaren Group (which it later divested after the two companies eventually parted ways).

The SLR was introduced in November 2003, a time when the Ferrari Enzo was set to do battle with the Porsche Carrera GT.

Given McLaren’s aspirations to manufacture road cars of its own, the SLR would end up being the two companies’ first and only road car together, which only serves to heighten its mystique.

Instead of creating an uncompromising supercar, Mercedes-Benz and McLaren pursued a different route.

Eschewing the rear-mid-engine formula, they devised a front-mid-engine layout.

This not only allow...