When the new-generation seven-seat Mercedes-Benz GLS makes its global premiere at the 2019 New York Auto Show this Easter (Friday, April 19), it will bigger, smarter and more beautiful.
Or so say senior Benz execs.
Stuttgart's new-generation – and biggest – SUV will be on sale in Australia later in 2019 and also spawn a super-luxury model, the Mercedes-Benz GLS Maybach.
But unlike the radical Mercedes-Maybach Vision Ultimate Luxury concept revealed at the 2018 Beijing motor show, it won't be a mutant mix of sedan and SUV styling.
Mercedes-Benz chief designer, Gorden Wagener, confirmed the regular GLS will be unveiled at the New York motor show in early 2019 but the controversial lumpy rump on the upper-crust Maybach model won't make the grade.
"The Maybach Vision Ultimate Luxury concept came in China and it showed what the Maybach concept could look like. But it [the production version] won't have the notchback design," said Wagener.
That new GLS is expected to debut a more polished version of the brand's magic body control which scans the road with cameras and adjusts the suspension and powertrain to maintain a comfortable bearing.
The standard GLS will, of course, retain its three rows of seats and may even offer an eight-seat version.
It will be underpinned by the same MRA architecture as the new GLE, which means it will likely get the cool suspension dance move and curve control party tricks, not to mention the latest MBUX interface with gesture control and AI-supported voice control.
The new model will be significantly bigger than both the GLE and its GLS predecessor, something Merc design boss is personally looking forward to.
"So I have three kids … the problem is with three kids and the [and three rows of] seats, you have no truck space [in the GLE] so the GLS will have more trunk space."
The GLS is one of the last models in the Mercedes portfolio to get the brand's 'sensual purity 2.0' design language – along with the SLC which may be killed off – and he insists the gigantic SUV will be a more elegant design.
The front end is expected to mirror the look of the Mercedes-Maybach Vision Ultimate Luxury concept revealed in China, bringing a more contemporary aesthetic to the big Benz beast.
"Compared to the existing car it will not be evolutionary, it will be more revolution. Even though we updated the front [recently] it was still the old car. The new car will be in an even more luxury direction. A big luxury SUV, it will be stunning," boasted the Mercedes design boss.
Wagener wouldn’t be drawn on exactly when the Maybach version of the GLS will be launched nor how close to production it is. But the design boss said the concept car's wonky bum shouldn’t be ridiculed.
"It was a good idea I think, combining the two leading car architectures, sedan and SUV in one. That was the idea of the show car, I still think it was a great idea, but if there's going to be one [Maybach] then it's going to be the normal hatch," said the outspoken German designer.