This is the NEW Mercedes S-Class – including a 62-mile PHEV S-Class

The new Mercedes S-Class is revealed as Mercedes replace their rang-topper with an all-new model, including a 62-mile range plug-in hybrid option.

If you want to know what tech will be fitted to your little family runaround in 10 years time, you should take a look at what the Mercedes S-Class offers. So with a new S-Class arriving now’s your chance to look in to the future.

That means stuff like rear-axle steering which makes the S-Class turn like a Black Cab and E Active Body Control for the suspension which mitigates pitch and roll and reads the road ahead to adjust the suspension to suit what it’s traversing.

There’s also Drive Pilot which offers level three autonomous driving which allows hands-off driving on dual carriageways and motorways, and can drive itself to a parking space in a car park, park and return when you want it to.

There are up to five screens available – three in the front, two in the back – an extreme JBL Sound system, ‘Digital Light’ headlamps, augmented reality HUD, new 12.8″ MBUX, eye-tracking and much, much more.

Clearly a chunk of the tech relies on how much you choose to spend, some of it is subject to law changes (like the autonomous stuff) and some we just won’t get in the UK. But it’s all very clever stuff.

On the looks front, this new Mercedes S-Class can’t be mistaken for anything other than an S-Class, although a bolder grille and new lights back and front do stand out, and you can have pop-out door handles too if you want, and the whole car is an inch or so longer and a couple of inches wider than the outgoing S-Class.

Inside things are a bit more obviously changed than the exterior looks at first glance, with fewer analogue controls and more swipe and voice going on, those screens we mentioned earlier and lots of high quality materials.

Engine options to kick things off when the new S-class arrives at the end of the year  are a pair of petrols – a 362bhp S450 and a 429bhp S500 – and a pair of diesels – the 282bhp S350d and the 325bhp S400d – with all except the 350d coming with 4WD.

Other options to come include a mild hybrid S580 with 500bhp and an S580e plug-in hybrid with 510bhp, a 28kWh battery and official range of 62 miles, getting close to the UK’s PiCG threshold. You can also expect a V12 Maybach S-Class at some point as well as an S63 and S73 expected to get up to 700bhp and 800bhp respectively.

Sales of the new S-Class will start shortly, with prices expected to start from around £80k.