2027 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Gets Starry Redesign, New Flat-Plane V8

Merc's mighty flagship gets a bling-tastic visual upgrade and an unusual new engine.

There's obviously a Kendrick Lamar and/or Black Panther fan over at Mercedes-Benz. How else do you explain the All The Stars redesign for the 2027 S-Class, revealed Thursday? The full-size luxury sedan has had over half of its parts—some 2,700 pieces—replaced or updated, with the German automaker calling it "most comprehensive update" ever wrought on an S-Class. Let's dive in.

One hundred and twelve. That's how many three-pointed stars there are in the '27 S-Class' substantial grille. Then there's the a quartet of them making up the daytime running light (DRL) signature of the refreshed taillights, and a play on the shape mirrored out back in the taillights a la E-Class. The optional hood-mounted star can now be illuminated too, just in case somebody hasn't quite figured out what this is yet.

Jokes aside, the design bridges the gap between the S-Class and more modern Mercs, and it works well. It's hard to see in most of the press photos, but a black mask wraps around the grille, also like the E-Class. Mercedes is adding two new Manufaktur exterior paint options, while also introducing a Manufaktur Made To Measure program. Here would-be buyers can pick from over 150 exterior paint options and more than 400 interior colors. Good luck!

No brand likes filling a dashboard with screens quite like Mercedes. The S-Class is ditching the almost quaint upright digital instrument cluster and single, portrait-orientation central touchscreen it launched with for a trio of screens—now the passenger gets one—all under one seamless piece of glass. Dubbed Superscreen, it is standard on the '27 model. The central touchscreen section measures 14.4 inches, while the flanking screens are both 12.3 inches. Front passengers can now stream video or play games on their dedicated screen, and Mercedes says multiple safety systems including eye-tracking software will ensure the driver won't get distracted.

Back-seat passengers don't miss out, with a pair of 13.1-inch screens attached to the front seat headrests. Both screens are paired with removable controllers as well. There are cameras back there too for the sort of people who can't resist the call of another team meeting, even when being driven around town.

Everything is running through the new MB.OS platform, the latest version of Merc's in-car user experience. It's now AI-assisted, which should allow for more natural language recognition. The system also allows for native streaming apps directly within the main interface.

The rest of the cabin is familiar with one important upgrade: heated seatbelts. Yes, really. There is a certain amount of sense to this ultra-fancy feature, as Benz points out it encourages folks to shed their bulky winter layers, which can impede modern safety features in the event of a crash.

At launch, Mercedes has revealed three powertrains for the revised S-Class. The "entry-level" S 500 4Matic sedan produces 442 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque from its turbocharged inline-six, enabling the 4,861-pound (2,205-kilogram) sedan to aggressively waft to 60 mph (97 km/h) in 4.3 seconds. The S 580 features a new M177 Evo V8 with a flat-plane crank (!), bumping output to 530 hp and 553 lb-ft. It chops the sprint time to just 3.9 seconds.

Both engines benefit from a mild-hybrid setup, which sees a 23-horsepower integrated starter generator (ISG) sandwiched between the engine and transmission to handle start-stop duties and allow for quicker power delivery. A nine-speed automatic continues to handle shifting duties.

The S 580e plug-in hybrid returns as well, pairing the six-cylinder with a more powerful electric motor and 21.96-kilowatt-hour battery pack. Combined outputs here are 576 hp and 553 lb-ft.

We suspect an AMG model is only a matter of time away, though the last thing that 1,055-pound-feet monster needs is more power.

Every 2027 S-Class comes with a standard air suspension, 14.6-inch front brakes, 19-inch alloys, and up to rear-axle steer with up to 4.5 degrees of lock (10 degrees is optional). A new feature uses cloud-based navigation information to pinpoint harsh roads irregularities like potholes and stores them in a server (after being anonymized). This information is then sent to other S-Classes which may encounter the same road, allowing the suspension to pre-emptively prepare. Super clever.

Pricing and availability for the 2027 Mercedes-Benz S-Class is expected later this year, and it will arrive in dealerships before the end of 2026.

The S-Class needed a shot in the arm. Mercedes didn't provide a sales breakdown by model for 2025, but the flagship sold 8,809 units in the US in 2024, trailing the BMW 7 Series and representing a 45-percent dip from the model's 2022 numbers. The tech and comfort upgrades sound impressive, but we can't shake the feeling Merc learned the wrong lesson from the 7's success: be brash. This is still a segment-defining sedan for a reason however, so we can't wait to get behind the wheel—or behind the driver.

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