The next generation of the Mercedes GLS will be launched in 2019 on a new platform, with new engines and a Maybach version. First prototypes of the new large SUV have now been caught testing.
The Mercedes-Benz test department is doing its best to make the car unrecognizable. The car is not only firmly attached to the camouflage stickers, but is also provided with misleading sheet metal. The new GLS is obviously embroidered with the most recent form of Mercedes’ design language and seems to grow in length. In the design, the Mercedes GLS seems to bet on a less powerful appearance. The new body is more stretched due to its lowered roof line. The front end should lean against the upcoming new GLE. Of course, the car benefits from semi-autonomous tech that Mercedes-Benz has rolled out already on the S and E-Class.
The new MHA (Modular High Architecture) platform, which is reserved for the large SUV and crossover Mercedes models, provides the substructure for the new Mercedes GLS. With this new architecture the GLS loses significant weight with the model change. Of course it gains a lot of features. The new packaging gives the occupants even more space.
MHA also creates new options on the drive side. The new inline-six-cylinder engines will come in diesel flavor with up to 340 hp and as gasoline with up to about 460 hp, but will also spawn hybrid variants. The hybrid drive, which is known from the S 560 e, combines a 367 hp and 500 Nm three-liter V6 turbo engine with a 90 kW and 440 Nm electric motor. In addition, there is a 9-speed automatic gearbox, which integrates the converter, the clutch and the E-engine. In the S 560 e, this drive train provides a purely electrical range of around 50 kilometers. At the upper end of the range will again be AMG versions, which in this model generation rely on the tried and tested four-liter V8 biturbo and deliver up to 612 hp.
Once on the market in 2019, the GLS will rival not only a new generation Range Rover, but also a new rival from its own country. BMW is making an X7, a giant SUV already previewed at IAA this year. As a new version of the GLS series, the new generation will also be presented in a particularly luxurious Maybach version – analogous to the Mercedes S-Class Maybach.
