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BMW reclaims US luxury sales crown from Mercedes

The numbers, they are in: BMW has reclaimed the luxury-sales crown from Mercedes by a margin of 9,347 cars. Mercedes donned the king's headgear in 2013 after a strong final quarter of 2013 when the new CLA and S-Class poured out of dealerships. This year, led by the 3 Series/4 Series and X5, BMW sold 339,738 units – a 9.8-percent increase year-on-year. Mercedes, led by the C-Class and M-Class, saw its sales go up by 5.7 percent to 330,391 units. We'll have to wait a bit to see if there's another registrations-vs-sales challenge as in 2012, when BMW was anointed US luxury ruler. Behind them, a dark horse named Lexus nudged closer to the leading Teutons, selling 311,389 cars. The Japanese luxury automaker also had the biggest gain among the top three, its sales rising by 13.7 percent compared to 2013. Audi had the biggest sales of anyone among the top five, though, with a 15.2-percent gain to 182,011, which moved it a spot ahead of Cadillac; the Wreath-and-Crest brand dropped 6.5 percent to 170,750. Acura (167,843), Infiniti (117,300), and Lincoln (94,474) took the final positions. Speaking of Lincoln, sales at the once-mighty luxury marque stand as the mightiest jump of any on this list, up 15.6 percent. That's the power of Matthew McConaughey... and better cars and a new crossover, sure. So now that we're back to Round One of 2015, in case no one else has said it yet: "Ok, fight!"

2022 Cadillac Escalade makes small changes across lineup

Cadillac recently opened up about the changes it's made to the 2022 car and crossover lineup for next year, but has been mum on what's planned for the 2022 Escalade. GM Authority says it has the goods, rounding up a number of trim alterations being made to the big SUV. The fifth-gen 'Slade comes in five trims, from bottom to top: Luxury, Premium Luxury, Sport, Luxury Platinum, and Sport Platinum. Starting with the updates coming across the lineup, two exterior colors retire, Dark Mocha Metallic and Shadow Metallic. They're replaced by three colors, Galactic Gray Metallic, Mahogany Metallic, and Wilder Metallic. The Escalade only offers one free color, Black Raven; all of the Metallics cost $625, and we expect these new ones will, too. Safety is the word for next year's model, with more features going in more vehicles. The entire lineup will get GM's Buckle to Drive feature that's part of the Teen Driver safety suite. Trying to make sure teens get the buckle in the clasp before taking off, if Buckle to Drive is activated, it won't let the vehicle be shifted into drive until the seatbelt is fastened. It starts with a beep and a message in the driver information center once the vehicle is started, and times out after 20 seconds. The last near-term whole-lineup changes are Near Field Communication going away, the tech having been superseded by modern smartphone capability. Finally, Super Cruise will eventually join the Escalade options sheet.  After that, the middle Premium Luxury and Sport trims are the big beneficiaries. In 2021, those two offered adaptive cruise control, automatic seatbelt tightening, enhanced automatic emergency braking, and reverse automatic braking as options. These features will come standard in 2022. Piling in more features necessitated a change to the optional $3,650 Driver Assist Tech Package that's currently offered, because the package includes three of the features that will come standard. Hence, the option's been renamed the Touring Package, and it will include air ride adaptive suspension, front and rear soft-close doors, and illuminated tread plates. Pricing is a mystery right now. The base Luxury trim gets a little attention, making lane keep assist and lane departure warning standard next year. That kit can't be had for any price on the 2021 Escalade.  And in 2023, GM Authority says we should get the hotter and more supercharged Escalade-V.

Cadillac will kill the plug-in ELR

Johan de Nysschen, president of General Motors' Cadillac division, says Caddy's ELR extended-range plug-in won't have any future generations, Automotive News (subs. req.) says. The publication previously reported that the car would be around for another couple of years, but even that's questionable, and the model could be yanked even sooner. Cadillac spokesman David Caldwell confirmed that there won't be a second-generation ELR. "Subsequent generations of the car will not be developed," he wrote in an e-mail to Autoblog. "It's available currently as a 2016 model, and there's no change to that status." The model debuted in late 2013 and used a version of the powertrain in the Chevrolet Volt. The main problem, of course, was that the car had a $76,000 price tag that proved too much for most automobile buyers to stomach. Last year, GM sold 1,024 ELRs, down 22 percent from 2014's totals. By comparison, the Chevy Volt moved more than 15,000 units, and that itself was still down 18 percent from year-earlier figures. The merciful end to the ELR shouldn't be much of a surprise, as Cadillac Chief Marketing Officer Uwe Ellinghaus went on the record in December of essentially calling the model a dud. It's a far cry from the excitement, though, that the concept model of what was then called the Converj was unveiled to the public at the Detroit Auto Show in 2009. For those feeling misty-eyed or nostalgic, though, check here for Autoblog's First Drive impressions of the extended-range plug-in. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2014 Cadillac ELR Review View 48 Photos News Source: Automotive News-sub.req. Green Cadillac GM Hybrid elr extended-range plug-in