Update: The trim panel is a “decorative feature,” a Mercedes-Benz spokesperson has informed Motor1. It can feature a personal photo or one of 12 predefined images, which the user can choose in the central touchscreen. Owners cannot upgrade the panel to a functional touchscreen.
Screens are everywhere, and automakers love them. In recent years, companies have gone overboard with third screens designed to placate bored passengers, including in the new GLC. But if you don't spend the big bucks to upgrade the displays in the latest crossover, you'll be reminded that you cheapened out.
The new GLC comes standard with three displays. The 10.3-inch driver display, the 14.0-inch infotainment screen, and a third "digitally animated trim panel" all under one glass surface. It doesn't appear that this third poverty panel in front of the passenger is a touchscreen; instead, it's just a plain-old display.
You have to upgrade to the brand's Superscreen setup to turn the third display into a 14.0-inch touchscreen. You can go even further and get Mercedes' new seamless Hyperscreen, which is a continuous 39.1-inch display, if you want all the possible pixels.
We reached out to Mercedes to verify that the car's third display is not a touchscreen as standard equipment. We'll update this story if we hear back.
A non-touch display in a Mercedes seems odd, but it could provide the automaker opportunities to upsell GLC owners after the purchase. A third touchscreen can't cost that much, can it?
We hope Mercedes hasn't let the corporate bean-counters get in the way of a good thing, if that's what happened here. Putting functionality behind a subscription service or paywall feels like a very cheap move, and not something you'd expect from a brand trying to sell customers a luxury experience.
Mercedes launched the Hyperscreen on the 2022 EQS after revealing it in 2021, an optional feature at the time. This setup puts three displays under a single, dash-spanning piece of glass, including a 12.3-inch touchscreen in front of the passenger.
Jeep was one of the first automakers to install a passenger display, putting one in the then-new Wagoneer. Lucid and Porsche have also added third displays in specific models, and they still feel gimmicky.
The infotainment display is easily accessible from the passenger seat in many of these vehicles. And no matter how big that third display is, it'll always be competing with the ones in our pocket that have all our favorite apps ready to go.
Source: Mercedes-Benz
