Mercedes-Benz reveals GLS

And so the Mercedes-Benz GL-Class joins the rest of the German premium brand’s SUVs and hooks its name up to a sedan.

Where the facelifted M-Class large SUV became the GLE earlier this year and the mid-size GLK will be replaced by the GLC (due on sale Down Under in December), the GL is now firmly mated to the S-Class limousine, changing its name to GLS as part of its mid-life facelift expected in local showrooms next May.

The seven-seat, three-row ML was always the largest of Mercedes’ burgeoning SUV range, but now it’s making a concerted effort to make it the most comfortable as well.

It’s adopting the nine-speed automatic transmission across the Mercedes-branded models, upgrading the seven-speed auto for the GLS 63 AMG version and directing its focus to deliver better ride quality out of the adaptive air suspension system.

Still a huge car at 5130mm long, the AMG version gets another 20kW of power to stretch its output to 430kW from its twin-turbo V8 powerplant. Its fuel consumption remains untouched, and its 760Nm of power arrives at only 1750rpm.

While the AMG uses the seven-speed auto, the nine-speed unit is fitted to the GLS 350d, GLS400 and GLS 500.

The V8-powered GLS 500 sees power from the twin-turbo V8 climb 15kW to 335kW and it also delivers 700Nm of torque.

A twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6 powers the GLS 400, bringing 245kW of power and 480Nm of torque, while the GLS 350d has 620Nm of torque and 190kW of power.

They’ve not ignored luxury inside, giving the GLS range upgraded leather trim, across-the-board internet access, an eight-inch multimedia display screen, a 65mm x 45mm touch-screen and a new steering wheel, complete with 12 buttons and gearshift paddles.

Its internal dimensions are all enormous, with its 3075mm wheelbase lending it the space to be generously flexible. It has 680 litres of luggage capacity in its standard form but the wheelbase gives it up to 2124mm of cargo length, so its total capacity (with both rear rows of seats folded down) is up to 2310 litres.

Expected to form the basis of the first Maybach-branded SUV, the GLS gets a refreshed corporate face and a less stodgy looking rear-end, scoring intelligently adaptive LED headlights along the way.

It also scores Magic Vision Control, which is Mercedes-Benz’s heated adaptive windscreen wiper, complete with the water spraying onto the screen from between each arm’s two wiper blades.

While the standard versions of the GLS deliver Comfort, Slippery, Sport, Off-Road and Individual set-ups for the engine, transmission, suspension and skid-control combinations, you can have more if you ask for it.

Specify the Off-Road Engineering package and you get a low-range transmission and a locking centre differential, plus an extra click (to Off-Road+) on the rotary drive select knob. It also lifts the ground clearance up to 306mm on the adaptive air suspension, while the wading depth rises to 600mm.

It also gets the latest development of the remote part of Benz’s ConnectMe service, so owners can remotely check whether the windows are up or down, the doors are locked or open, how many kilometres it has done, what the tyre pressures are and other diagnostic information.