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Mercedes may be working on a new electric car dubbed 'Ecoluxe'

Automobile has a lengthy piece this month on how the four German mass-market luxury manufacturers each plan to go after Tesla with their own electric vehicles. It was written by Georg Kacher, the magazine's European bureau chief, and the English version came a month after he wrote the German-language original for Autobild. Tesla isn't exactly a threat to the Germans, but, according to the report, the Model S is planting the right kinds of seeds in niches that are important to the luxury players. The thinking is that - in addition to needed electric vehicles anyway for stricter US regulations - it's better to start designing the machinery now. The article posited Porsche's attack would rest on the coming Panamera platform, but a big hurdle would be battery placement. Unable to find one large space for a lithium-ion pack, engineers would instead put batteries everywhere they could, for a supposed tally of some "108 battery pouches" throughout the body. A few days after the Automobile piece, however, Porsche publicly said it had no intention of challenging the Model S, because the enthusiastic driving the brand is known for doesn't jive with useful range. In Kacher's retelling, Mercedes' plans are even more ambitious, supposedly taking aim at the Model S and the coming Model X. It would do this with an investment in excess of $2 billion in a program called "Ecoluxe" – Mercedes has no brand division akin to BMW's i and Audi's e-tron. The new brand would create a four-strong family of bespoke electric vehicles: a smaller platform with a wheelbase around 106 inches and a larger one with a wheelbase around 118 inches. In addition, the range would have "provisions for rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, and rear-wheel steering." The numbers are impressive: seating for seven in the larger vehicles, both longer than 16 feet, front and rear storage areas, ratings of up to 610 horsepower and production capacity of 80,000 units per year. When would we see such creatures? Perhaps as soon as 2019. We do know that if Tesla can knock the Model X over the outfield fence, automakers are going to have to do something. We don't know what the chances are that Ecoluxe is Mercedes' first move - but such a plan could help explain the weird Mercedes concept spied in October.

New Audi Q5 refines original model's winning formula

The first Audi Q5 made a name for itself as a baby Q7, hitting a Goldilocks zone in the crossover segment and challenging BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Lexus for supremacy in what would become one of the luxury market's most important segments. The Q5 is already Audi's best-selling vehicle globally, underscoring its importance to the German brand. Like its predecessor, the second-generation Q5 takes the Q7's looks and tech, then distills it into a smaller package. But unlike the Q7, the Q5 doesn't look quite so dowdy in its redesigned body. We'll attribute that to the smaller front and rear overhangs, which keep the Q5 looking like a crossover instead of a high-riding wagon. The face is mostly a carbon copy of the Q7's, with a prominent grille featuring a silver surround and flanked by a set of clean, stylish headlights. In back, the smaller Audi gets more expressive taillights that harken back to the first-generation model in their lighting signature. We aren't really sure what Audi was going for with its two-tier rear bumper, but it doesn't work and is inarguably the worst piece of an otherwise fashionable design. Aside from restyling the Q5's body, Audi managed to both expand it in every direction and trim nearly 200 pounds of body fat through a mix of "maximum tensile strength" steel and aluminum. Audi is also promising an impressive aerodynamics gain for the new body – the company's engineers slashed the coefficient of drag from 0.33 to 0.30. That should mean a quieter and more efficient drive. Like the Q7, the new Q5 benefits from Audi's push into advanced driver information systems. It gets the 12.3-inch TFT display, also known as Virtual Cockpit, on top of the 8.3-inch MMI display atop the center stack. MMI takes a page from Apple with its Personal Route Assist. Much as CarPlay will automatically display how long it takes you to get home, Audi's new system can study an owner's behavior and suggest the best route to a given spot, even when the navigation isn't active. While we're geeked about the new tech, the powertrain front is less newsy. The European press release lists one gas engine – a 252-horsepower 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder – and four TDI powertrains. Those latter engines are dead to the US, as Audi faces the backlash from parent company Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal.

Autoblog's top 50 car photos of 2016

This one shouldn't need much explanation. We like cars a whole lot, and that includes not just driving them but taking great pictures of them. We've collected our 50 favorite images from this year in the mega-gallery above. It's a mix of old and new, with a healthy dose of vintage and modern race cars mixed in, and not one single shot under the harsh lights of an auto show. So click through and enjoy. Featured Gallery Autoblog's Top 50 Photos of 2016 View 50 Photos Image Credit: Copyright 2016 Autoblog.com Audi BMW Chevrolet Dodge Ferrari Ford Lamborghini Mazda McLaren Mercedes-Benz Porsche Rolls-Royce Volvo Convertible Coupe Motorcycle Luxury Racing Vehicles Performance Supercars Classics