2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Interior Revealed, All-Glass Dash Display: Video

How do you interpret "modern luxury" when consumer electronics change every 18 months but a luxury car has to last 15 years?

That was the challenge facing the designers of the next Mercedes-Benz E-Class interior, and their answer was to blend recognizably Mercedes design cues with a fully digital "glass dashboard" that stretches almost two-thirds the width of the cabin.

While the next E-Class hasn't (quite) been revealed yet--it'll appear at the Detroit Auto Show next month--there have been plenty of spy photos to show that the car will have a shape similar to that of the latest S-Class and C-Class sedans.

DON'T MISS: 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Spy Shots

But inside, the E-Class has to break new ground, and convey both the latest in information design and a level of luxury one step above the C-Class.

To do that, the designers blended "intelligent" with "emotional" design, starting with the "double-S" wraparound dash design with a center section that swells slightly into the cabin.

They used four circular chrome-ringed vent outlets--one more than the three in lesser sedans--and one more at each end.

But it's the "dashboard" display that catches the eye, under an eyebrow housing that stretches from the driver's door well to the passenger's side of the console.

In it are a pair of horizontal 12.1-inch LCD displays that butt together, with two large virtual dials in front of the driver and a somewhat simplified version of Mercedes' usual infotainment and navigation interface on the center section.

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