If the hallmark of good design is that it lasts a long time before needing to be messed with, the crayon-wielders at Mercedes must have made a real hash of the 2024 GLE facelift. Because judging from these spy shots the BMW X5 rival is about to get a second facelift despite the current look making its debut only 16 months ago. The 2024 MY update introduced some major updates, including a new GLE 400e 4Matic four-cylinder plug-in hybrid model, but the visual changes were relatively minor, focusing on revised head- and taillights and a new grille with two wider horizontal bars on non-AMG and AMG-Line trims.
The fact that the disguise is only at the
front of the prototype in these images suggests that the latest update will be
limited to another new grille and headlight setup. One possibility is that
because the GLE is the SUV equivalent to the E-Class, it might be about to
adopt the same front-end treatment as the sedan and wagon. They are available
with either a traditional formal Mercedes grille with three horizontal bars and
one vertical bar, or a sportier version containing dozens of tiny stars.
The GLE already has something broadly
similar to the latter, but the E-Class differs in that both of its grilles are
framed by a thick black surround with a chrome loop. The SUV’s grilles have no
surround and are only framed by the body-color bumper and hood. No doubt
Mercedes will also take the opportunity to upgrade the MBUX infotainment system
at the same time, but whether it’ll go so far as to switch up the dashboard and
screen layout to bring it closer to the design in the E-Class remains to be
seen.
What definitely won’t be arriving as part
of the update, which should appear later this year or very early next, is an
electric powertrain. That job is handled by the EQE, which is a similar size
but has its own unique body styling and runs on a dedicated EV platform.
