- Mercedes’ GLE coupe has been spied testing and showing off its new headlight setup for the first time.
- The facelifted fastback SUV features a pair of star-shaped DRLs in each headlight unit.
- Another pair of stars is built into the rear LED lights, a design treatment used by the E-Class sedan.
New lights are a core part of any model’s midlife facelift, though sometimes the tweaks (usually to the DRLs) are so subtle that you really do need to be a fanboy to notice them. That’s not the case with the 2026 Mercedes GLE and its coupe brother seen here.
We knew the SUV duo was in line for a refresh because previous spy shots had alerted us to the fact that Mercedes was tinkering with the design again, despite having rolled out revised GLEs for the 2024 model year. But these latest images give us our first look at the new lights that will make a GLE even easier to identify as a Mercedes.
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In our last scoop encounter, we learned that Mercedes was giving the GLEs the star-shaped rear LEDs already seen on the current E-Class sedan, but these new pics confirm that the front end is also getting the star treatment first seen on last year’s CLA concept. But while a single star per side is enough for the GLE’s taillights, the front light units get two DRL stars per side. Next year’s facelifted S-Class sedan is getting a similar quad-star nose job, while the 2026 Maybach GLS takes on a stacked star arrangement.
Unlike rival Audi, Mercedes hasn’t embraced a split-height headlight setup and we can see the dipped beam and high-beam projectors are housed in the same units as the stars but set back to make them almost invisible until they’re switched on.
Along with the new headlights we can expect Mercedes to send the GLE out with a new grille, perhaps with an E-class-style frame this time, though this prototype’s camo wrap makes it hard to see exactly what other front changes will be evident when the disguise comes off early next year.
The current GLE coupe is available in Europe in both Mercedes and AMG forms with a choice of four- and six-cylinder engines, but only the AMG is offered in the US. And we already know what powertrain the GLE 53 will have because Mercedes announced over a year ago that the 2026 model would junk today’s 429 hp (320 kW / 435 PS) mild-hybrid V6 for a 536 hp (400 kW / 543 PS) full-hybrid version.
