Mercedes-Benz wasn’t scheduled to lift the veil on its redesigned 2017 E-Class until next week’s Detroit auto show, but an internet leak has provided us with an early look at the automaker’s mid-size luxury sedan.

The 2017 E-Class is about what you’d expect, borrowing most of its exterior design cues from the larger S-Class and smaller C-Class. The front of the new E-Class features a large grille, sleek headlights with LED accents and a choice of several different bumper treatments.

The new E-Class, which was leaked via Carscoops, retains its classic three-box shape, but the long-hood short-deck treatment is more exaggerated than before. The rear of the E-Class sports LED taillights and dual exhaust outlets.

The interior of the new E-Class, which Mercedes has already shown, closely mirrors that of the S-Class flagship. The highlight of the E-Class’ cabin is a new twin-screen setup with no partition between the LCD readouts.

Technical details on the 2017 E-Class remain a mystery at this point, but we should be given access to a full spec sheet within the next few days.

The Justice Department has sued Volkswagen in federal court over its alleged use of emissions-cheating software in more than 600,000 diesel vehicles sold in the United States.

The suit claims that VW installed software in its diesel vehicles that allowed them to pass the Environmental Protection Agency’s laboratory tests, but then spewed up to 40 times the legal limit of pollutants during normal driving. VW initially denied the allegations, but has since admitted to the cheat.

“Car manufacturers that fail to properly certify their cars and that defeat emission control systems breach the public trust, endanger public health and disadvantage competitors,” John C. Cruden, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, told NBC News.

He added: “The United States will pursue all appropriate remedies against Volkswagen to redress the violations of our nation’s clean air laws alleged in the complaint.”

VW could face fines and penalties totaling more than $18 billion if it’s found guilty of cheating the federal Clean Air Act. In addition to hefty fines from the U.S. government, VW is also facing a sea of lawsuits from disgruntled diesel owners. The German automaker could also face stiff repercussions from other world governments.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is using the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to unveil the fourth-generation of its Uconnect infotainment system.

Set to launch sometime in 2016, the fourth-generation of Uconnect will boast several improvements over the current system, including more processing power for faster startups and more responsive touchscreens with better resolution.

Perhaps the biggest jump for the latest version of Uconnect will be Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility. Like other CarPlay and Android Auto systems already on the market, Uconnect will essentially mirror a person’s smartphone on the vehicle’s central infotainment screen.

“The Uconnect team is evolving Uconnect and making it even better,” said Joni Christensen, Head of Uconnect Marketing, FCA US LLC. “With the launch of the fourth generation of Uconnect systems, we are continuing to minimize the everyday stresses of busy lifestyles by providing drivers with a variety of ways to stay conveniently connected to their vehicles, while making every drive exceptionally informative, entertaining and unique.”

Exact timing for launch of the latest Uconnect is unknown at this time, but FCA could make an announcement on the subject at the upcoming Detroit auto show.

Nissan has announced that its Kicks Concept has been given the green light for regular production. Introduced at the 2014 Sao Paulo Motor Show, the production version of the concept, which will retain the Kicks name, will begin rolling off the assembly line by year’s end.

Sales of the Kicks will initially kick off in Latin America, but Nissan says the crossover will eventually be sold globally. However, Nissan hasn’t indicated if the United States will be among the Kicks’ global markets.

“Nissan invented the first crossover in 2003, with the Murano,” said Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan. “Since then, we’ve established our global crossover leadership with vehicles like JUKE, Qashqai and X-Trail – which have been great successes. The Kicks will bring Nissan´s unique Crossover expertise to more regions.”

The Kicks will be produced at Nissan’s Resende Industrial Complex in Rio de Janeiro State. Nissan plans to invest $192 million into the facility before Kicks production.

Nissan has not shown a production version of the Kicks, but the crossover will likely retain most of the styling cues of its concept counterpart. The show car version of the Kicks featured styling cues from the current Juke, but stretched slightly longer than the Juke.

Ford and Toyota announced Monday that Toyota will adopt Ford’s SmartDeviceLink platform for automotive smartphone connectivity.

SmartDeviceLink is Ford’s software platform for facilitating communication between handheld device applications and a vehicle’s on-board infotainment software (in this case, Ford’s Sync and Toyota’s Entune). Ford’s current implementation of this platform is called “AppLink.”

The announcement is seen by the two automakers as the foundation of what they hope will be a large alliance of manufacturers who want to keep development of automotive infotainment systems in-house while still supporting an industry-standard platform.

Ford says PSA Peugeot Citroën is the closest to becoming the second major automaker to sign on, with Honda, Mazda and Subaru all considering a similar move. QNX Software Systems and UIEvolution, both automotive suppliers, have also signed on.

Adoption of SDL by Toyota (and others) is seen as a win for automakers who want to keep the development of these systems in the hands of car manufacturers, rather than letting it fall to tech companies whose primary focus is outside of the automotive realm. Ford and Toyota claims this will allow each automaker to customize the interface to best take advantage of its unique hardware while still supporting what they hope will become a widespread (if not universal) standard.

Perhaps more importantly, this is a signal to Apple and Google that they and their partners are not universally welcome in the automotive tech sector. It’s also bad news for buyers who are hoping to see in-dash tech evolve into an extension of advanced smartphones, rather than continuing to be developed in parallel.