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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!"

Lexus J201 Concept | Overlanding into uncharted brand terrain

Taking a left turn off of I-10 outside of Palm Springs, California, we drove down a rutted, sand-blown track for a couple miles before ending up at a tall, rocky pile, an outcrop scaled somewhere between a hillock and a massif. After shifting the transmission into neutral, engaging the four-wheel-drive low range, and closing the ARB Air Locking differentials, we got even and steady on the throttle and pointed our truck—a seven-figure, one-off, overlanding concept known as the Lexus J201—up the steep, rocky face until all that showed through the windshield was dust and searing sky. The truck handled the challenge with marked aplomb, cresting the ridge without a huff, and eventually leveling off and displaying the glories of what was on the other side: a meth lab. So capable was this vehicle that it was easy to forget that the platform that underpinned all of this ruggedness was LexusÂ’ posh, flagship SUV, the $88,000 LX 570. This jacked and tracked truck begs the question: Has Lexus gone rogue? “Going rogue is actually part of who we are,” says Vinay Shahani, the brandÂ’s vice president of marketing for America. “And we love to experiment. J201 is a rolling example of our belief in Always On, the idea of continual improvement no matter the time in a vehicleÂ’s lifecycle.” The reference to time-in-lifecycle is kind of an understatement for a vehicle that has existed in its current form, with only minor cosmetic updates, since 2008 — two lifetimes in the product span of most automobiles. But the J201 Concept does add significant upgrades to the production vehicle, which, based as it is on the venerable and caprine Toyota Land Cruiser, is hardly a slouch in the off-road-capability department. In addition to the performance differentials mentioned above, the J201 benefits from a myriad of additional add-ons. These include rugged accessories such as an Icon Vehicle Dynamics suspension good for a few extra inches of ride height, and even more when the suspension is put in extreme high mode; smaller 17-inch Evo Corse Dakar Zero wheels mounted with 33-inch General Grabber X3 tires; a TJM Airtec snorkel for breathing underwater (something we did not get to experience in the parched Coachella Valley); and StopTech drilled brake rotors. It also includes bolt-ons such as CBI skid plates, rock sliders, and front and rear bumpers; a Warn winch; a Prinsu Design roof rack system; an onboard ARB twin compressor; and luminescence of Rigid Industries light bars.

Lexus teases Frankfurt Motor Show concept... is it the RC Coupe?

With the teaser image of the concept car above and the announcement that Lexus will be premiering it to the world at the Frankfurt Motor Show on Tuesday, September 10, you know pretty much what we know. The Japanese luxury brand has decided to to say nothing more. Picture sleuthers have, however, suggested that it is a conceptual preview of either the RC Coupe or the hotter RC-F that will be revealed in Tokyo, or, less likely, the coming NX crossover - and that covers all the bases that we know of.
Along with that, Europeans will get to lay eyes on the GS 300h for the first time, the sport sedan powered by Lexus' 2.5L hybrid powertrain. You'll find a skosh more information in the press release below.