2027 S-Class Revealed: Interior, Exterior & New Engines

Mercedes-Benz is celebrating a landmark. It's been 140 years since Carl Benz filed a patent for the first automobile. Fast forward to Stuttgart, Germany, where Mercedes took the wraps off the latest generation S-Class, the jewel in the automaker's crown.

Each generation S-Class is meant to be the pinnacle of what the automaker is working on at that moment. For this version of the luxury sedan, Mercedes says that 50% of the vehicle has been newly developed, updated, or refined. Much of the development and updates have to do with technology, specifically, the company's SDV (software-defined vehicle) platform.

Read the full story here.

Transcript

00:00:04 This is the 2027 Mercedes-Benz S-Class. This vehicle will be available at the end of 2026. And for Mercedes, this is the top end of their luxury brand. Before we get into some of the nitty-gritty of the vehicle, let's talk about autonomous driving. Now, the current S-Class has a level three system. When this ships, it'll ship with level two plus because Mercedes is

00:00:34 working on a better version of level three. And once that is available via Drive Pilot, you'll start seeing some of the things like this the blue markers that you see on some of the test vehicles that Mercedes is working on. Now, there will also be a level four version of this vehicle, but that is not for you and me to buy. that will essentially be a robo taxi version of

00:00:54 this vehicle, which actually makes a lot of sense when you are an executive and you essentially someone's going to pick you up at the airport in a really nice uh S-Class, you could have a robot driving you to your next meeting. In order to do all this, either it's level two, level two plus, level three, whatever, the vehicle will ship with 10 cameras, five radars, overall 27 sensors

00:01:16 will be on this vehicle so that it can see the road. And then the sensor fusion will all be taken care of by a liquid cooled Nvidia processor. So, there's a lot of processing power inside this vehicle in order to well, either you're driving with hands off with the level two plus or you're driving with hands off eyes off in the future with level three or when they're talking about a

00:01:38 robo taxi, you need all that processing firepower in order for the vehicle to understand the road and drive on it. And Mercedes-Benz has added that to this vehicle. One of the more interesting aspects of this vehicle is that the air suspension, the the adaptive suspension, typically when you think, well, I want the adaption to preload to get ready for, let's say, a bump or a pothole,

00:02:02 you'll have a camera up front, it'll see the bump or the pothole and the vehicle will get ready for that. Of course, if there's snowing or raining or leaves on the ground, you're not going to see that. Mercedes with the MBOS, what they're doing is they're using the cloud. So, what happens is that an S-Class drives into a pothole. It tells the it goes up to the cloud and tells

00:02:23 every other S-Class that supports this system that there is a pothole at this exact GPS location. That way, when those vehicles drive down that road, the vehicle will get ready to tackle that pothole. So, the first person, well, they're the uh test case. Everyone else is going to have a nicer ride. And of course, it's a dynamic updating system, so that when that pothole is finally

00:02:46 filled and an S-Class drives over it and recognizes that no longer is being jarred, it's going to send that information to the cloud and it'll be distributed to all the S-Classes that support the system. That system currently, you know, it's going to launch on this vehicle first, but Mercedes-Benz says that they are going to distribute it to all of their

00:03:03 vehicles in the future. The upcoming S-Class ships with three engine options. The plug-in hybrid 580E ships with a 3 L inline 6 that along with the electric motor produces 576 horsepower and 553 pound- feet of torque. The 500 also comes with a 3 L inline 6, but that has 442 horsepower and 443 pound- feet of torque. Meanwhile, the top-end 580 comes with a

00:03:34 4 L V8 that has 530 horsepower and 553 pound- feet of torque. All S-Class vehicles bound for the US come with the automakaker's formatic all-wheel drive system and up to 4.5 degrees of rear wheel steering. And while the exterior of the S-Class is nice for those well looking at it, it's really in here where Mercedes sells luxury. And in the front seat, you're

00:04:01 still getting these very comfortable seats. The new steering wheel that actually has uh tactical uh buttons, it has a roller. It has a little toggle switch. And you're getting they are uh adding the super screen. I think you might remember the hyperscreen. These are now called the super screen. You have the your your touchcreen here. You also have a passenger screen. Now I

00:04:22 talked I asked uh CEO about this passenger screen because I don't know if the US market really is that keen on it but this vehicle does the idea is to sell it is a worldwide vehicle and in China the passenger screen is essential to sell this vehicle. So, it makes a lot of sense. And what you can do with this means you can um personalize it with your, you know, you get in the car, you

00:04:46 have all your personalizations, and maybe you just put a picture of your dog or your child or your partner. Uh, also inside the vehicle, you have, as you heard, the Mercedes uh digital assistant. It's using the MBUX, which is one of my favorite infotainment systems. Um and they have included in addition to their very robust uh p uh personal assistant they have added Google uh and

00:05:12 Microsoft an AI in order to if you ask it a question. It'll ask all these LLMs. It'll determine the best answer and serve that up to you. So you're not getting answers from all the different LLMs and you ask it about you know how tall is the Eiffel Tower or how long it takes to drive to the Klondike. It'll find out from all these different LLMs and determine what is the best answer

00:05:36 and serve that up to you in this vehicle. And of course, the true promise of the S-Class is that rear seat luxury, that luxury for the person who is being transported to their next important meeting. And in this vehicle, you're clearly going to get that. Of course, you have the rear screen, but you also have these individual controllers. They

00:05:55 essentially look like small uh phones. And what you're really looking for is this. This is the experience that you you want in the back of an S-Class. This is the long wheelbase version. There'll also be a shorter wheelbased version that doesn't quite do this. And of course the longer longer wheelbase version which is the Maybach S-Class. But for now we're

00:06:20 having some you know you can control what I'm doing with with with your you can control the blinds, you can control all this stuff with this or you just have this little button right here if you want to go old school. And of course this sits right here. So all the technology is great. the level four, level three, level two plus, the sensors, the drivability, the new V8,

00:06:45 the new inline 6, the everything else that is, you know, makes this vehicle drive well. At the end of the day, this is why people buy an S-Class, this experience right here. And one of the more interesting and and kind of nice touches is the hood illuminated star. It's not super bright. It's pretty chill, but it's also very Mercedes. The new S-Class will be

00:07:15 available in United States in late 2026. You'll be able to get a V8. You'll be able to get a inline 6. Uh, and for those who are looking for premium luxury for Mercedes, this is the vehicle to get, unless of course you go for the Maybach. For more automotive coverage, be sure to subscribe to SAE International.