2013 Mercedes GL: Official

2013 Mercedes GL

Mercedes Benz has officially revealed the 2013 Mercedes GL SUV at the New York Motor Show. On sale in the UK early 2013.

We had photos of the 2013 Mercedes GL in last week ahead of its official reveal at the New York Motor Show, but now the show is under way – well, press day at least – Mercedes has now revealed their big SUV officially.

Mercedes are calling the new GL the S Class of SUVs (which is probably a softening-up for a price hike) and it looks like they’re aiming to take over the space Land Rover will leave when they move the 2013 Range Rover upmarket this year. And the GL gets seven seats too, something the Range Rover has never managed.

Engines on offer in the new GL will be the 3.0 litre diesel in the GL 350 BlueTEC 4MATIC which offers 258bhp, a 38mpg average, 192-209g/km emissions (depending on spec) and gets to 62mph in 7.9 seconds. That’s an improvement in economy of around 20 per cent on the current GL despite a hike in power from 211hp.

The petrol GL will remain the GL 500 4MATIC BlueEFFICIENCY, but it will get the 4.7 litre Bi-Turbo engine instead which means 408bhp, a 0-62mph of 5.9 seconds, emissions of 262-292g/km and an average economy of 25mpg.

The eco stuff fitted to both the GL 350 and GL 500 includes start-stop, electric power steering, eco tyres and plenty of weight saving, all adding up to a GL that should be more dynamic and more economical than the current model.

On the gadget front, the new GL has lots of new toys including ESP with Steer Control which is capable of correcting oversteer, Collision Prevention, Crosswind Assist. Active Lane Keeping Assist, Blind Spot Assist and just about every kind of electronic nanny you can imagine.

Oddly, Mercedes are calling the new GL the 2012 GL, but with cars not arriving until early next year it seems that this is really the new 2013 Mercedes GL.