Mercedes-Benz is giving its family-friendly GLB seven-seat SUV an update.
A mid-life refresh is coming for the Mercedes GLB and a full reveal could happen within the next few months. We’ve spotted a test car going through development on German roads and despite camouflage on the front and rear, we can already ascertain a lot about how the new car will look.
Mercedes is in the process of revitalising most of its SUV range. The all-new GLC has just launched, the GLE facelift was revealed earlier this year and the GLS is getting a facelift in 2023 as well. Introduced in 2019, the Mercedes GLB is a bit of an anomaly in the German firm’s line-up, it offers seven-seats where the more expensive GLC is five-seat only. There’s also an all-electric EQB version, which will gain an update this year as well, despite the EV launching as recently as 2021.
The front of the facelifted GLB shows a new, simpler headlight design with just one daytime running strip in each cluster. The grille’s size and shape remains the same, but we can expect new detailing within.
We’ve spotted what we believe to be the AMG Line model testing before which gains AMG-designed five-spoke wheels, a new front end with larger air intakes and a bespoke grille design.
The sides remain unchanged from the outgoing model, but at the rear we can clearly see a new rear light design with horizontal bars replacing the square lights. The camouflage extends across the bootlid, but we imagine tweaks will be confined to the rear lights. There are smaller exhaust tips on this standard model, with the AMG Line gaining slightly larger oval tips.
In some Mercedes models, such as the new S-Class and EQS, we’ve seen a variation of interior design between the combustion-engined car and its electric counterpart. The GLB and electric EQB, received the same interior layout and we expect this to continue with this mid-life update.
Since the GLB was launched, Mercedes has brought out new versions of its similarly-sized GLC and C-Class. Inside, these cars use a new 11.9-inch portrait touchscreen and 12.3-inch digital instrument panel – technology that could be carried over to the GLB, with the latest MBUX infotainment. The GLB will remain as practical as before, with seating for seven.
Mercedes updated the A-Class in 2022 with the main change being the addition of mild-hybrid engines. It’s likely that the GLB will benefit from this technology too for 2023.
That means the entry level GLB 200 should come with a mild-hybrid, 1.3-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine with 120kW and 270Nm of torque. Above those we could see a GLB 220 with the Mercedes 4MATIC four-wheel drive system using a mild-hybrid 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engine pumping out 140kW and 300Nm of torque.
Given that there’s the all-electric EQB built on the same MFA2 platform, a plug-in hybrid variant of the GLB should arrive at some point too.