Oh look, it's the upcoming Mercedes GLC Coupe's body shell

Mercedes appears to have inadvertently posted the first image of the forthcoming GLC Coupe on its Facebook page. The image, which ostensibly shows the body shell for the upcoming crossover, was posted as a holiday greeting, and has since been taken down. But the folks over at the Mercedes-Benz Passion blog caught it before it disappeared.

The shot shows a crane moving the body shell outside the factory. The sign below it is in German, which tells us it likely wasn't shot at the Valmet plant in Finland to which Mercedes will soon begin outsourcing production of the GLC. The image otherwise gives us relatively little to go on. However it appears to show the new GLC-Class crossover with a slant-back roofline, similar to what the German manufacturer has already done with the GLE Coupe. The automaker showed a concept version of the GLC Coupe at the Shanghai Motor Show earlier this year ahead of the conventional GLC's debut, and is now preparing to put it into production.

The GLC Coupe will be Benz's challenger to the BMW X4, offering a similarly rakish profile with compact dimensions. Expect it to sacrifice some rear headroom and luggage space on the altar of style, following the latest trend in the industry. Look for the new crossover variant to debut sometime in the new year with similar engine options to the conventional GLC, which is offered Stateside as the GLC300 with a 2.0-liter turbo four good for 241 horsepower. A performance-tuned GLC450 AMG Sport version is expected to follow with a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 good for 362 hp. Source