We’re expecting Merc’s flagship S-Class luxury saloon to appear sometime this year, possibly at a world premiere in Paris this fall, but we weren’t expecting these photos from Carscoops’ reader Jaye T.
“I was on vacation in Monaco and spied a few facelifted S-Class’ driving around the town center. One was parked outside the casino the other driving around the roundabout,” Jaye told us in an email.
We know what you’re thinking – both the standard and the AMG Sport models nabbed by Jaye don’t look any different than the current cars at a quick first glance, but check closer and you’ll see that they’re both sporting the same minor tweaks we’ve seen on prototypes all over Europe during the past months.
Specifically, they have the redesigned multi-beam LED front headlamp fixtures with the daytime running light strips relocated to the bottom of the units, while the basic S-Class might also have reshaped lower corner air inlets – we can’t say for sure. We didn’t see any other differences on the exterior, but the same applies with the various testers scooped on the road. One of the reasons we’re a bit hesitant is that the S has a local dealers plates on.
Either way, the exterior tweaks will be minimal on the facelifted S-Class. Inside, however, Mercedes is expected to implement more evident changes including a larger, frameless display on the dash (see our spy shots here), while adding gesture controls for the infotainment system and a newly designed, three-spoke steering wheel that replaces the current two-spoke rim.
There are conflicting reports about the updated S-Class’ powertrains, as some sources say that it will carry on with slightly improved versions of the current lineup, while others are claiming that the saloon will debut Merc’s new M256 code-named straight-six engines in place of the V6 mills. One of these straight sixes may be offered with the 48V mild hybrid tech that attaches an electric motor crankshaft, acting as both an alternator and a starter.
Thanks to Jaye for the pictures!
Photo Gallery
