Back in April, we showed you a series of spyshots of a Mercedes-Benz C-Class prototype sporting new headlights, while the rest of the vehicle came in showroom condition. Well, the C-Class test car we're to show you today is fully covered in camo, so we can be 100 percent certain we're dealing with the mid-cycle facelift.
Judging by how well the front and rear ends of the new prototype are hidden, we're expecting the C-Class facelift to bring important design changes - now that the development has reached this point, we should be able to get a closer look at the prototype, perhaps one that will see the car stepping outside the comfort of the Mercedes-Benz site in Stuttgart, Germany.
Diving into its styling roots, the German automaker has penned the current C-Class, E-Class and S-Class in such a way that the three perfectly follow the Matryoshka doll principle, with the C and the E appearing to be downsized S-Class clones. And we can't wait for the C-Class facelift prototype we have here to start its striptease process so we can see the next step of this visual plan.
On the technical front, Mercedes-Benz will mark its straight-six return next year and we should see the new family of engines landing under the hood of the revised C-Class.
When it comes to the timetable for the introduction of the model, we could see the refreshed compact executive model debuting next fall as a 2018 model, possibly at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September - with the current W205 generation having been introduced in 2014 as a 2015 model, seeing the facelift debuting in late 2017 could seem a bit early, but not unlike certain market tendencies towards shortening product lifecycles.
Even so, we can't completely rule out a 2018 debut, which would leave us with a 2019 model year vehicle. Regardless, we have plenty of time to return with light-shedding updates.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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