The Mercedes-Benz boss says the next-generation C-Class sedan is due to be revealed in 2021, adding it will feel like a “small S-Class”.

Ola Källenius, head of Mercedes-Benz, suggested to CarsGuide.com.au the next-gen C-Class would be offered with some of the new features from the freshly revealed W223-generation S-Class.

“Back in the day, many years ago now, the logic at Mercedes was ‘we got it in the S-Class’ – that happens every seven or eight years – and then we have a gradual trickle down,” he said.

“We’ve already departed from this philosophy, I would say, in the last five to seven years. We have switched to say every single new architecture or major model gets innovation.

“This week we talk about S-Class, but to illustrate it, next year comes the new C-Class. [Even though] the C-Class is already nine months behind its bigger brother, you already have a small S-Class in the C-Class,” he said.

The Australian publication speculated the new C-Class might be available with the portrait-style infotainment screen and augmented reality head-up display from the S-Class.

“We trickle up and trickle down quickly, and we have developed an engineering system now whereby the innovations that we launch can very quickly come to the other vehicles,” Källenius added, pointing out the MBUX system debuted on the company’s smallest car, the A-Class hatchback.

In May 2019, a report claimed Mercedes-Benz was considering scrapping production of the C-Class in the United States, leading to speculation the German firm’s plant in South Africa could pick up the slack.

In June 2018, Mercedes-Benz announced the investment of an additional €600-million in the brand’s facilities in East London, effectively confirming the next generation of the C-Class would be built in SA. And in March 2019, the 500 000th W205-generation C-Class rolled off the assembly line at its East London plant.

Original article from Car