The Mercedes-Benz S-Class, or 'Sonderklasse' (special class in German), has been around since 1954 – meaning it celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. However, if you want to be thorough, the S-Class nameplate wasn't adopted until 1972.
So, counting from the W116 in 1972 as the first official generation of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the full-size luxury sedan series has been around for seven generations already. The current iteration, W223, arrived during the fall season of 2020 and didn't feature a coupe or convertible body style. However, the limousine is available in short- and long-wheelbase configurations.
Plus, there are plenty of derivatives like the Maybach models, the Guard armored version, or the high-performance AMG variant, among others. With this abundance of options and a wide variety of gasoline, diesel, plug-in hybrid, and mild hybrid engines, including V8s and a V12, you would think that folks won't get bored with the S-Class very soon.
However, the German automaker doesn't want to risk that, even though the W223 has been appreciated for its clean and traditional design on the outside combined with the high-tech elements found inside. As such, the rumor mill and the imaginative realm of digital car content creators believe that a mid-cycle refresh is coming.
The former have easily noticed that lightly camouflaged examples are already roaming the streets with a larger radiator grille that BMW would probably approve. The reports also talk of a completely new interior layout with extra goodies and some potential powertrain modifications – and the parallel universes of vehicular CGI seem to agree, at least as far as the good folks over at the AutoYa info channel on YouTube are concerned.
As such, the channel's resident pixel master has unofficially imagined the CGI looks of the upcoming 2025 or 2026 Mercedes S-Class with a proper facelift to make it look even cleaner than before. While these unofficial renderings should always be taken with a pinch of salt, the hypothetical design project of the S-Class limousine comes with modified headlights, a refreshed bumper, a larger or more prominent grille, plus a complete makeover of the interior.
More precisely, the resident pixel master has given the hypothetical S-Class a lot of fancy exterior shades but also a new steering wheel and a panoramic, full-width LED screen that stretches across the entire dashboard instead of the current portrait-oriented central display used by the real Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Of course, this time for the interior, another color reel wasn't missing in action from the video embedded below.
So, what do you think? Is Mercedes-Benz going easy on the W223 S-Class with subtle exterior modifications and reserving the surprise for the interior or not? Should we take the hideous EQS as a hint about what's going on inside as an alternative?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News