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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!"

Berlin demanding costly German recall of 12 million diesel cars

BERLIN - Germany's Transport Ministry is in talks with car manufacturers about updating the engine management software of up to 12 million diesel vehicles, people familiar with the talks told Reuters on Monday. The cost of updating cars could amount to as much as 1.5 billion to 2.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion to $2.8 billion), and the ministry is demanding that vehicles with engines conforming to the euro-4, euro-5 and euro-6 standards be part of the recall, government sources said. The German government has demanded that the auto industry shoulder the costs of the update and is pushing for a solution to be presented before German elections on Sept. 24. The ministry is in talks with German auto industry associations VDA and VDIK as well as representatives from local governments to try and cut nitrogen oxide pollution by about 25 percent, the sources said. The talks come amid growing opposition to diesel in the wake of an emissions cheating scandal at Volkswagen. Several European cities including Stuttgart and Munich have considered banning some diesel vehicles because of emissions of nitrogen oxides, which are blamed for causing respiratory disease. ($1 = 0.8942 euros) Reporting by Markus WacketRelated Video: Government/Legal Green Audi BMW Mercedes-Benz Porsche Volkswagen Emissions Diesel Vehicles dieselgate

2017 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe First Drive

Remember 2008? The government said companies could make food from cloned animals. Derrick Rose became a Bull, Michael Phelps killed it at the Beijing Olympics, the Giants killed gamblers everywhere by beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The money that banks had been dousing in lighter fluid for years finally caught fire courtesy of Lehman Brothers. General Motors admitted it got torched for a $38.7-billion loss in 2007. Oil hit $147 a barrel. Tata introduced the Nano. And Mercedes-Benz gave us the W204 C63 AMG, a sedan we didn't know we'd been waiting for until we drove it. It was hammer in front and hell in back, that naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V8 with 451 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque swearing in Beelzebub's childhood tongue through four oval pipes jutting from a heart of black diffuser darkness. It was everything AMG had always been, howling mad in a straight line. And everything AMG hadn't been, sharp and fast through a turn. AMG booked a lot of goodwill for that endeavor, a substantial success that bred huge expectations. Not only would we not be surprised by the 2017 AMG C63 S, we would expect it to be outstanding. And it is. But not in the way we expected. What we love about the W205 C-Class sedan is the same thing that gives us pause about the AMG C63 S: they both grew up. The coupe shares only the doors, roof, and decklid with the sedan. The C63 Coupe shares only the doors, roof, and decklid with the standard production car. The hood is 60 millimeters longer, and there's a front splitter ready to make nasty crunching noises around town. The trunk gets a trim blade of a spoiler, strengthening the design connection to the S-Class Coupe. Blistered wheels broaden the C63 S Coupe by 2.5 inches in front and 2.6 inches millimeters in back, putting needed muscle on that otherwise svelte rear end and visually bolting the car to the road. Track is wider, too, and standard 19-inchers fill the wheel wells. It's a beautiful machine, and when draped in one of the 80 bazillion shades of matte silver AMG is known for, it's devastating. Our subjective take is that it's swapped personas with the BMW M4. Now it's the C63 S that channels muscular grace, while the M4 takes Bluto as its spirit animal. What's left to be said about Mercedes interiors, other than to give way for the heckling about the COMAND touchscreen placement? This interior does it like all the rest, with the exception of a small steering wheel with an absurdly fat rim.