TFLcar spies caught these production ready prototypes of the all-new 2016 Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe testing high in the cold and snowy Rocky Mountains of Colorado. There is barely any camouflage here, except some masking tape on the lights and the corners. You might be wondering what a Mercedes GLE Coupe might be? What kind of animal is it? More on this later.
The white car is wearing AMG style wheels and large front grille openings, but there are no other hints that there is the 500+ horsepower twin-turbo V8 hiding under the hood. This may be an AMG Sports package car.
[Update]: Mercedes-Benz just released official information stating that the 2016 GLE Coupe will come in the GLE 450 AMG 4MATIC Coupe variant. You get an uprated twin-turbo 3.0L V6 with 362 horsepower and 384 lb-ft of torque. It’s followed by a 9-speed 9G-TRONIC automatic transmission that sends power to permanent 4MATIC all-wheel-drive system.
The dark prototype has a more regular set of wheels, although they are still large diameter rims for a stylish flare. After all, this Mercedes is aimed to compete against the BMW X6.
If you thought that the Infiniti naming change is somewhat confusing, you need to buckle up for this one. Mercedes and Cadillac have announced extensive nomenclature changes in the coming years. Mercedes is renaming most of its SUV/Crossover line. What you have been used to as the Mercedes ML (or M-class) will be called the GLE staring in 2015. The GLE is and will be the BMW X5 competitor. This vehicle was originally rumored as the “MLA”. In other words, the four-door crossover coupe version of the ML. However, the new naming convention did not allow for this. Also, the GLA name has already been taken by the smaller crossover coupe in the lineup (already on sale). So what do you call the GLE coupe? It’s the GLE Coupe! Are you less or more confused now?
Here is a Prototype Hunting video of the update 2015 Mercedes-Benz ML that TFLcar spied earlier this year.
Also, take a look at these official images of the Concept Coupe SUV from Mercedes-Benz. It looks like the production version got a little higher roofline and slightly different light design.
Andre Smirnov is a life-long automotive enthusiast, software engineer, writer, and reporter. He has been writing and reporting at TFLcar since 2011.
