Sneak Peek: 2012 Mercedes-Benz M-Class

It seems as though Mercedes-Benz has taken the wrapper off of its new 2012 M-Class SUV, showing a completely revised exterior design.

As you can quickly tell from these freshly released images, the new ML has adopted the same crisply creased styling as we’ve seen in recent new C- and CLS-Class vehicles, as well as the cute-ute GLK. We must admit that we like the slightly more conservative looks of this ML over those of its smaller SUV brother though.

High-level interior design and finish are evident from this first set of photos, too. Clearly M-B recognizes that is SUV leader will need to be robustly posh to compete with the likes of the BMW X5 and Audi’s Q7.

While these images come as part of a larger press release for the European version of the M-Class (and thus there aren’t full powertrain, pricing, etc details to share just yet), we’ll be driving the North American version of the SUV next month. Look for much more on the new Mercedes then.