Mercedes-Benz model blitz: “largest product offensive in history” Australia-bound in the coming year

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Mercedes-Benz details to Chasing Cars what it claims is the largest product offensive in its history.

The storied German marque will add new, ground-up electric cars in the GLC and C, sporty EVs with simulated engine sounds with the CLA 45 and the ultra-luxury GLS and S-Class in the next 12 months — all detailed below.

New Mercedes-Benz models coming to Australia

• GLB
• GLC (electric)
• GLE
• GLS
• S-Class
• EQS
• C-Class (electric)
• AMG CLA45
• AMG GT 4-Door Coupé
• GLA

GLB

Vehicle type: Compact SUV

Launch: September 2026

Mercedes-Benz’s renewal of its smaller models continues with an all-new GLB.

Built on the same ‘Mercedes-Benz Modular Architecture’ as the CLA, Mercedes proudly claims that electric GLBs – now called simply that rather than ‘EQB’ – suffer no compromises from their non-bespoke platform. Case in point: impressively for a car that isn’t electric from scratch, electro-GLBs have a front boot.

Expected in Australia by the end of September, Australian specs are unconfirmed. However, electric versions overseas score an 800-volt platform, an 85kWh battery and WLTP range of up to 631km.

The GLB remains impressively small for a seven-seater, at 4732mm long, 1861mm wide and 1687mm high.

Australian pricing is also TBC, though the outgoing GLB started from $68,300 before on-roads. No other luxury brand has a direct rival, so competition comes from ‘below’ – cars like the Volkswagen Tayron ($48,950 before on-roads) and Honda CR-V ($54,900 driveaway for a seven-seat version).

GLC (electric)

Vehicle type: Mid-size SUV

Launch: October 2026 (orders open now)

As Chasing Cars reported three weeks ago, an electric variant of the GLC is available to order now in Australia.

Priced at $112,200 before on-roads, the electric GLC is related to the petrol GLC in name only. It’s built on a 800V electric platform called MB.EA, claiming 630km (WLTP) from a 94.4kWh battery, below the claimed 803km of the competing BMW iX3.

The GLC400 4Matic variant, the only electric GLC confirmed for Australia, has motors front and rear, putting out 360kW and 800Nm combined. The rear motor has a two-speed gearbox to improve efficiency when not sprinting from the lights.

The headline news inside is the usual for a Mercedes-Benz – a screen even bigger than before. The GLC will optionally offer the ‘Hyperscreen’, one continuous screen nearly a metre long. If you get separation anxiety from your TV when you drive to work, Mercedes will soon have the car for you.

GLE

Vehicle type: Mid-size SUV

Launch: November 2026, 1st half 2027 for AMGs (orders open now)

Mercedes-Benz’ longstanding GLE large SUV, as well as its slant-roofed ‘Coupé’ version, get a mid-life update.

The brand’s ‘Superscreen’ (three 12.3-inch screens running the full width of the dashboard) spreads into the GLE, as does something more pedestrian but much appreciated – a spare wheel.

Diesel GLEs sprout two more cylinders, with the GLE350d gaining a three-litre straight-six making 210kW and 650Nm. Both AMG models – the straight-six GLE53 and V8 GLE63 – live on.

Pre-on-roads prices will run from $142,300 for the 350d ($2400 more than its arch-rival, the BMW X5) to $279,900 for the madhouse 63. Orders are open now, with Australian deliveries expected in November.

GLS

Vehicle type: extra-large SUV

Launch: November 2026, 1st half 2027 for AMG & Maybach (orders open now)

Right behind the GLE large SUV is the three-row GLS upper-large SUV.

Like the GLE, the GLS inherits the Superscreen, three 12.3-inch screens in a row spanning the entire dashboard.

The GLS450 returns to the range, bringing a three-litre turbocharged petrol straight-six making 280kW and 560Nm. The GLS450d lives on, offering 270kW and a plentiful 750Nm from a straight-six turbodiesel. The AMG GLS63 and its twin-turbo V8 also carry over, for when you and six passengers need to get there as quickly and loudly as possible.

For the last word in excess, the Mercedes-Maybach GLS680 will satisfy those seeking a German alternative to the Rolls-Royce Cullinan. Options for that include folding tables, a fridge, calf massagers and champagne glass holders.

Priced before on-roads from $181,900 for the GLS450 to a heady $424,900 for the Maybach, orders are open now, with deliveries from November. Arch-rivals Audi will give you a three-row SUV for much less – its Q7 starts at $108,742 before on-roads.

S-Class

Vehicle type: extra-large sedan

Launch: November 2026, 1st half 2027 for Maybach (orders open now)

The definitive plutocratmobile is getting an update to keep the pressure on the BMW 7 Series. The most obvious change will be polarising – the option to illuminate the three-pointed star on the bonnet. ‘Quiet luxury’ no longer.

The S-Class has long been considered the most technologically advanced car in the world; that and Mercedes-Benz’s vast 29-page, 13,700-word communications document make the S-Class difficult to write about succinctly. Here’s what little we can communicate in the space we have:

• Standard ‘Superscreen’ – three touchscreens under a glass panel spanning the full width of the dashboard.
• The Mercedes-Benz Intelligent Cloud, that can remember where potholes were and brace the suspension of other Mercs in anticipation of them.
• Semi-autonomous “point-to-point driving in dense urban traffic” where laws and conditions permit.
• Four-wheel steering with up to 10 degrees of articulation for the rear wheels – the S-Class’s turning circle should be much smaller than it should be for a car this long.
• A flat-plane V8 – very unusual outside of supercars.
• An armoured ‘Guard’ variant for customers who are regularly shot at.
• The Mercedes-Maybach S-Class lives on, for those who deem even this level of luxury insufficient.

Australian pricing partially emerged on 7 August. The straight-six S450 retails for $264,200 before on-roads, and the longer-wheelbase, V8-powered S580L retails for $353,900. Both have Mercedes’ AWD system, 4Matic, as standard. The Maybach S-Class’s pricing is unannounced, though the MY25 Maybach was $582,428.

EQS

Vehicle type: extra-large sedan

Launch: November 2026

Mercedes-Benz’s initial EV strategy was to give its electric models their own names and designs, which did nothing but disorient customers. Hence the approach taken with the CLA and GLB – same name, same car, different things under the bonnet.

So it’s surprising Mercedes hasn’t let the EQS (i.e. an electric S-Class) rot on the vine. An update confirmed for Australia increases the WLTP quoted range to a groundbreaking 925 kilometres, from a huge 122kWh battery. An 800-volt electrical system is inherited from newer electric Benzes.

Like the ‘normal’ S-Class, the EQS is piled so high with technology and advancements that summarising it is a challenge. So here’s Chasing Cars’ best bits:

• A drag coefficient of 0.20, making the EQS one of the most aerodynamic cars ever made.
• Heated seatbelts. Mercedes pitches this as a safety feature – by removing the need for a thick coat, the seatbeat can hold you more tightly in a crash.
• Optional steer-by-wire, complete with a yoke instead of a steering wheel.
• AI you can have conversations with.
• Microsoft Teams. In a car.

Though pricing is TBA, the EQS previously undercut its petrol sibling at $222,400 before on-roads.

C-Class (electric)

Vehicle type: mid-size sedan

Launch: 1st half of 2027

Early next year, the electric GLC will be joined by an electric C-Class to fight the upcoming BMW i3 and Hyundai Ioniq 6.

Like the GLC, electric C-Classes share little besides a name with petrol C-Classes. The only variant detailed so far, the C400 4Matic, shares almost everything with the GLC400 above: front and rear motors, two-speed transmission at the rear, 800V MB.EA platform, 94.4kWh battery, 360kW and 800Nm, and the aforementioned Hyperscreen.

Being smaller, lighter and lower than the GLC means the C-Class is more efficient, so the same battery can go 760km (WLTP), 130km more than the GLC.

The close mechanical similarity to the GLC means the electric C-Class will optionally offer two things unusual for a mid-size sedan – air suspension and four-wheel steering. Our correspondent Tom Baker, who drove the C400 in Finland two weeks ago, reported that the car is plush and sharp enough as standard to do without them.

More details to come as we have it.

AMG CLA45

Vehicle type: compact sedan

Launch: 1st half of 2027

The outgoing CLA45 ended production with a monstrous 310kW and 500Nm, jaw-dropping figures for a small car with a two-litre four-cylinder engine. AMG is determined to preserve that shock value for the electric era – this little sedan has 500kW and will do 0-100km/h in 2.7 seconds.

Almost every stat in the CLA45 is astonishing for a small car: 800V platform, DC charging at up to 330kW, three motors (one front, two rear) and a 94kWh battery with a claimed 640km of range (WLTP). The weight is astonishing too, though: 2.3 tonnes.

AMG will copy Hyundai N’s homework with ‘AMGFORCE’ which simulates gearchanges, as well as the lovably obnoxious sound and feel of the previous CLA45’s engine, even down to vibrators in the seats – or ‘shakers’ as Mercedes hastens to call them.

The old CLA45 was $129,300 before on-roads, and the new one’s price is TBA until closer to launch. The normal CLA comes to Australia in both sedan and ‘Shooting Brake’ (wagon) bodystyles; whether both forms of CLA45 will come our way is unconfirmed.

AMG GT 4-Door Coupé

Vehicle type: large hatchback

Launch: confirmed for Australia, timing TBA

Mercedes-AMG will launch its direct rival for the Porsche Taycan and Polestar 5 next year.

The GT 4-Door Coupé (which we’ll call the GT4DC for brevity) debuts AMG’s very own Electric Architecture, AMG.EA. AMG claims its so-called axial-flux motors, of which the GT4DC has one at the front and two at the rear, deliver world-leading ability to endure prolonged hard driving without power reductions or overheating.

Combined with 860kW of power, a claimed 0-100km/h time of 2.1sec, and the ability to take DC charging at up to 600kW (meaning, theoretically, 460km of range can be added in 10mins of charging), the GT4DC will accelerate fast enough to make you see stars, over and over and over again.

Mercedes says pricing will be in line with the last GT 4-Door Coupé, which was $409,527 before on-roads.

GLA

Vehicle type: compact SUV

Launch: confirmed for Australia, timing TBA

Last but not least will be Benz’s smallest SUV, the GLA.

The GLA is essentially a shrunken GLB, seating five rather than seven. Sharing the same ‘MMA’ platform as the CLA and GLB, it’ll come in both electric and petrol variants.

Like the GLB, specs for the petrol versions haven’t been disclosed in detail, but we do know the basics: a 1.5L turbocharged four-cylinder running through an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission.

Electric GLAs will mimic the figures for the CLA and GLB, meaning an 85kWh battery on an 800V platform, up to 260kW, and DC charging at up to 320kW.

Precise Australian timing and pricing is undetermined; the outgoing GLA starts at $64,300 before on-roads.