Mercedes-Benz has revealed official pictures of the new 2016 E-Class sedan.

The dashboard takes styling cues from the S-Class. There are two displays consisting of 12.3 inch screens each and a resolution of 1920 x 720 pixels. There is a virtual instrument cluster and the driver can choose between three display themes;  “Classic”, “Sport” and “Progressive”. The instrument cluster is optionally available with COMAND Online.

The new E-Class is the first car  to integrate touch control buttons in the spokes of the multifunction steering wheel. The buttons are touch sensitive and respond to horizontal and vertical swipes, just like you would do on a smartphone. There is a touchpad on the centre console too, similar to that on the C-Class. The touchpad permits letters, numbers and special characters to be entered in handwriting. Having recognised the handwritten characters, the system reads them out to enable blind operation without the driver having to divert their attention from what is happening on the road.

There are four circular AC vents as seen on the S-Class. Interior lighting makes exclusive use of durable, energy-saving LED technology. The E-Class also gets optional ambient lighting in 64 colours. It adds touches of light to the to the trim parts, central display, front stowage facility on the centre console, handle recesses, door pockets, front and rear footwells, overhead console, mirror triangle and tweeters (if the car is equipped with the Burmester® high-end 3D surround sound system).

The new E-Class also gets the option of a Burmester 3D surround sound system with 23 high end  speakers with diaphragms of glass-fibre fabric for high level stability, low weight and higher power. Specially developed for their task, the roof speakers are extremely small and flat and radiate sound in all directions. The speaker package includes a 25-litre bass box with its own 400 W amplifier in the boot, two woofer/mid-range speakers in the front doors as well as seven mid-range speakers and ring radiator tweeters of aluminium for precise sound resolution. The tweeters in the front mirror triangle not only fulfil their sound function, but are also fascinating design objects: when the sound system is turned on, they revolve out from the mirror triangle into the optimal radiation position. The ambience lighting also transforms them into a visual highlight. Two amplifiers with a total power of 1450 W drive all the speakers individually via separate channels and active crossovers.

The new E-Class is set for a global premiere on January 11, 2016 and will go on sale in the coming months. India can expect the new car in the second half of 2016 and will rival the BMW 5 Series, Audi A6 and the Jaguar XF.