The Mercedes S-Class has always been the pinnacle of engineering for Daimler and we’re expecting it will be a similar story with the new generation internally known as the W223 coming in a couple of years. A heavily masked prototype was caught this week roaming the streets of Germany not ready yet to reveal its exterior secrets. We still don’t know what’s with the thick camouflage on the door handles – that is if the full-size saloon actually has conventional door handles.

The future full-size luxury saloon has already been spotted on several occasions:

What’s interesting about the adjacent spy video is that it allows us to catch a glimpse of the unfinished interior. While the dashboard is pretty much hiding underneath a black piece of fabric, the driver’s display is entirely exposed and looks quite massive. With this being a work-in-progress car, you can rest assured the ungainly configuration is far from being the final setup, but it’s still interesting to see.

Does this mean the new S-Class will have a much larger instrument cluster? Not necessarily. Mercedes could be using the big screen during the testing phase to have a clearer look at the prototype’s telemetry. On the other hand, the entry-level A-Class has been upgraded to a twin 10.25-inch setup, so it would make sense for the flagship model to kick things up a notch to distance itself from the lesser models by upgrading from the current 12.3-inch displays.

2020 Mercedes S-Class Sedan screenshot from spy video

Some would say bigger isn’t always better, but you won’t find a lot of people complaining about the Volkswagen Touareg’s swanky Innovision Cockpit where the digital instrument cluster merges with the 15-inch infotainment to create the illusion of a single-piece gargantuan screen.

2020 Mercedes S-Class Sedan screenshot from spy video

Screens aside, the S-Class will borrow a thing or two from the hugely controversial Maybach Ultimate Luxury concept. The luxed-up half saloon half SUV with a questionable exterior design had an amazing cabin and we can’t wait to see how that will be translated into a production model.

Don’t expect to see the next-gen S-Class anytime soon as it’s unlikely to debut before the end of the decade.

Gallery: 2020 Mercedes S-Class Sedan screenshots from spy video