2018 Mercedes S-Class Facelift Interior Revealed in Spy Clip, Central Dial Gone?

The piece of footage allows us to check out the dashboard of the facelifted S-Class, along with the center console of the Benz.

We'll start with the latter, as it appears the rotary dial used for operating the automaker's Comand infotainment system is gone - we've also added a photo of the dial-including system present on the 2014 S500 we tested in the gallery to your right (the one with our watermark), as well as one showing the 2017 E-Class system, so you can compare them.

Since the rotary element is a trademark for Mercedes' current interior design language (for instance, the recent S-Class Cabriolet and W213 E-Class feature it), the missing element leads could mean the spied prototype seen here may not be the vehicle's final form.

Oh, and by the way, another 2018 S-Class, whose cabin we showed you back in July, did feature the dial.

Of course, there's always the possibility that Mercedes-Benz engineers and designers have decided to go with a touch-sensitive pad, eliminating the mechanical action altogether. After all, we manage to get along pretty well with our almost button-less smartphones.

As for a more certain change set to be introduced by the W222 mid-cycle revamp, this has to do with the instrument cluster and the infotainment displays being welcome inside the same bezel. The move helps the S-Class move away from the strongly artificial image delivered by the current model, one that has surprisingly been accepted by the majority of customers.

Following the previous taillights- and front bumper-revealing spyshots, we're looking forward to a new adventure of this kind that can shed further light on this interior matter.