Mercedes-Benz will launch its next generation GLE and GLE Coupé models at the Paris motor show this September. The closely related models will have cabins equipped with the latest technology and new plug-in hybrid variants in a bid to take the fight to BMW's X5 and X6.
The current GLE - codenamed W166 - made its debut in 2015, and this successor, the W167, will continue to face that car's incumbent rivals, the Porsche Macan and Range Rover Sport, when it arrives in showrooms early next year.
The 2019-model-year GLE is described by senior officials from Mercedes’ R&D headquarters in Germany as a “clean sheet design” with little relationship to the current model, which was launched under the M-Class banner in 2011 before being rebadged as part of a midlife facelift in 2015.
Mercedes has offered a first official glimpse of what's to come, providing a murky preview image (above), as well as sketches (below and gallery) of the GLE's new cabin, which features twin digital displays for the instruments and infotainment functions within a single panel. Unlike the free-standing units used by the A-Class, E-Class, G-Class and S-Class, however, the digital panel in the new GLE is mounted below the upper section of the dashboard.
The German car maker’s boss of interior design, Hartmut Sinkwitz, said this provides a more integrated appearance: “We wanted to integrate the panel more seamlessly. It provides a greater feeling of sturdiness". Sinkwitz has played an important part in the transformation of the interior design of Mercedes models in recent years.
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erly5
Doesn't look that aggressive to me
289
@ erly5
Shorter overhangs sound promising, but in the pictures the ground clearance looks even poorer than the current model, and an increased track is just bloody stupid and unnecessary.
You only need to look at the bloated track on current X5's and their inability to pass through lane restrictors and car park exit stations without taking chunks out of their alloys to know that little heed is paid by designers to actual usability.....as they say, the cars are getting bigger, but the lanes are still the same size!
Winston Churchill
289 wrote:
You've got two of them, don't you?
Bazzer
But it looks dull. Land
But it looks dull. Land Rover showed, with the Evoque, that small SUV-type cars can look good (that's why they sold so many, because it certainly wasn't keen pricing!). Yet still Mercedes and BMW especially continue with really incredibly boring designs - ugly, in BMW's case, to boot. The Seat Ateca is nice. But my point is, why buy a AMG V8 when the dress it's wearing is so bland?
Peter Cavellini
Nothing changes.....
One car maker copying the other, nothing radical, roughly the same size, does nothing new, these types of Cars are just Grass and Blue Sky, always there very little change from model to model, Car maker to Car maker.....come on Car makers!
Peter Cavellini.
eseaton
To be replacing a car after
Although the current model does look far worse than the previous model.
Cobnapint
'will continue to compete with the Porsche Macan'
289
New GLE
As these manufacturers build their SUV's with ever smaller/lower rear windows (god knows why - I like to see who is creeping up behind me!), the rear wiper becomes more and more ineffective at clearing a usable area of the glass. They are reaching a point now where they will need twin wipers.
xxxx
2 x 12
That's 2 ft of screen, no wonder cars are getting wider!
typos1 - Just can’t respect opinion
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