In Cars, Mercedes-Benz / By Paul Tan / 5 January 2016 3:00 am / 44 comments

Mercedes-Benz has been pretty generous with teasers for its next-generation W213 E-Class, giving us glimpses of how the headlamps and tail lamps look like as well as completely revealing to us the interior towards the end of last year.

Now, just a week ahead of the car’s official unveiling on January 11 at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show, a set of exterior photos of the new E-Class have made their way onto the internet. No idea how this happened, but it has. It’s pretty much as per what we expected – like the already unveiled interior, the exterior is sort of smack in the middle of the smaller C- and flagship S-Class in terms of both size and design.

We already know the front will not feature split headlamps which was an E-Class feature since the W210, but now the rear end has gone back to the W211’s design, with the light staying clear of the boot lid. Thanks to that, the new E-Class looks like both a baby S-Class and a big C-Class.

You’ll notice two different types of exterior styling here – the grey and red car features a sportier outlook with a sport grille while the dark blue car features a more traditional outlook sporting a stately grille paired with a hood ornament.

While the headlamps are no longer split units (gone since the W212 facelift), the design of the integrated daytime running light design sort of pays homage to this short history. A teaser video released yesterday reveals it has an 84 diode Multibeam LED module although we expect this to be optional.

The leaked interior photos are of no surprise since Mercedes-Benz has already unveiled the interior before this. The S-Class-inspired dash has twin 12.3-inch displays on higher-end models, new digital instrument cluster and COMAND Online display graphics, steering wheel-mounted touch pads to control the infotainment system as well as an impressive new 23-speaker Burmeister sound system.

We also know the W213 will get a new key fob design. Unlike the previous fob, the new one is a lot slimmer and curvier. It features four buttons, with three traditionally being to lock, unlock and to remotely open the boot lid. The fourth button is the panic button, an alarm trigger which may be unfamiliar to Malaysians. Only the United States has this.

The push start button has also been revamped – it doesn’t look like there’s no option for a key hole behind it. The button is flush with the dashboard, and doesn’t look like it has a removable cover that would expose a slot for the key.

The company has also detailed the technologies that will come, including expanded smartphone integration – your phone can now serve as a key, as well as guide the car in and out of parking spaces via the Remote Parking Pilot function. Safety technologies like Active Brake Assist also get a bump up, capable of scanning other lanes for cars and initiating braking earlier if it senses an evasive manoeuvre is impossible.

Other features include the new Evasive Steering Assist, Distance Pilot Distronic with Speed Limit Pilot and Active Lane Keeping Assist, semi-autonomous Active Lane Change Assist as well as an uprated Pre-Safe system – the latter now protects your ears in a loud crash, and pushes you closer to the centre of the car using the inflatable seat bolsters to provide more survival space in the event of a side impact.

We’ve also seen long wheelbase Maybach versions of the new E-Class on test with a slightly different C pillar – will it be confined to China as per the current car or will it be a global model this time?

What do you think of the new E-Class so far? Do let us know your thoughts in the comments and stay tuned for more information as we get closer to the car’s Detroit debut.

GALLERY: W213 Mercedes-Benz E-Class leaked images

GALLERY: W213 Mercedes-Benz E-Class interior