The Stuttgart-based automaker has made no secret it plans to replace the current E-Class soon enough. On the contrary, it has already started the countdown by presenting the new premium mid-size saloon’s huge array of novel safety systems.
With Mercedes-Benz having reportedly scheduled its launch for mid-2016, it’s only natural for test cars racking up the miles – and getting caught by the spy photographers’ lenses as a result.
This, however, is the first time the W213 code-named E-Class with only a thin film of camouflage covering a part of its bodywork, leaving little to the imagination.
Unsurprisingly, it borrows most of its cues from its bigger sibling, the S-Class. That’s mostly evident in the treatment of the rear end, while the front looks a bit edgier without straying too far from the brand’s current, and quite well received, design language.
The new E-Class that will be marketed as a 2017 MY car, will benefit from the new, modular MRA platform that will underpin it and allow it to tip the scales lower than its predecessor in spite of being slightly larger in dimensions.
Available in rear- and, optionally, four-wheel drive versions, it also marks the return of the inline six cylinder engines, which used to be a trademark of Mercedes’ cars until the mid-1990s.
Apart from the high-performance AMG variants that will be powered by a 4.0-liter V8, the new (turbocharged, of course) six-cylinders belong in a new family of units that’s designed with the whole Merc line up in mind.
The 2017 E-Class may be the first to get them, but they will also spawn three- and four-cylinder engines that will be used in the lower models of the brand’s range.
Photo Credits: CarPix for CarScoops
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