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Take a look at the shocking Rolls-Royce Next 100 concept

Rolls-Royce showed off its Vision Next 100 concept today in London, giving a look at what its vehicles might look like a century years from now. Each BMW brand will show its own concept this year; BMW's Vision Next 100 concept was an interesting mix of textile-like patterns with stretchy fenders and a very 2010s four-door coupe shape, but this Rolls-Royce concept looks more like a luxury version of a World Solar Challenge racer. The car's official title is 103EX, following the convention of recent Roller concepts. Whereas its BMW counterpart was perhaps a safe, predictable vision of the future, the Rolls is a striking vehicle and a big departure for the brand. Whether it works as a whole for you or not, it represents the kind of stylistic provocation that made ex-BMW stylist Chris Bangle a household name. While the early Bangle cars were extremely controversial, this Rolls concept is clearly the heir of his penchant for sharply creased character lines. Call the rocker panel crease flame surfacing if you want. The floating headlamps and blade-edged verticality of the fenders are classic Rolls: imposing and visually heavy, without necessarily being classically beautiful. The square, flat grille is, to my eyes, much less successfully integrated. It seems like Rolls had the perfect opportunity to evolve the trademark grille into something more contemporary. In 100 years, the brand will still need to lean on this sort of anachronism? That seems short-sighted. We'll have more on this concept from our man on the ground in London later today. Featured Gallery Rolls-Royce Vision Next 100 Concept View 27 Photos Design/Style BMW Rolls-Royce Coupe Autonomous Vehicles Concept Cars Future Vehicles Luxury

6 luxury car brands to watch in 2024

2023 was a healthy year for the auto industry, and even with incentives returning and dealer lots filling up, there's plenty to like about the market if you build luxury automobiles, and we expect 2024 to be more of the same, which makes luxury-segment rivalries all the more interesting. Top luxury car brand rivalries? Well, that sounds downright uncivilized. But we know better, don't we? And when every quarterly sales update is an opportunity to remind somebody else that they bought the wrong status symbol, well, who can resist? Certainly not the diehard customers who fly their favorite brands' banners high.  Read more: Auto sales: Industry records best year since 2019 Read more: 2023 auto sales and 2024 preview: Ford Bronco vs. Jeep Wrangler This is a tricky segment to define, but essentially, we're looking at luxury car brands with depth to their portfolios and dealerships that exist to attract real-world customers. The Bentleys, Rolls-Royces and McLarens of the world are luxury cars, certainly, but we're more concerned with brands that have a bit more mass appeal — manufacturers who treat supply constraints as fiascos rather than features. If you disagree with our selections, feel free to let us know in the comments.  And since we're mostly concerned with finishing order, the luxury brands and totals featured here may change as new data come in throughout 2024. Due to the wild swings of the past several years, we're treating 2023 as the baseline by which we'll measure sales performance. And rather than rank brands vs. their finishing order in 2022, when supply-chain and inflationary issues still played havoc with sales figures, we're starting 2024 off with a clean slate.  The mainstream luxury segment is always a dogfight, but with their varied approaches to electrification all of the major luxury brands are in the midst of reshaping the premium landscape. Who is doing it right? Well, according to U.S. shoppers, the usual suspects are up to their old tricks.

BMW looking to fix i3 acceleration problem uncovered by Consumer Reports

The BMW i3 has been hailed in some quarters as the future of electric mobility, what with its innovative carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic body and commitment to sustainable materials wherever possible. The modernist little hatch is even available with a 650cc two-cylinder gas engine with 34 horsepower to act as a range-extender for those who want it. However, that optional engine might have a drawback - at least for the moment.
Consumer Reports brought the problem to light when one of its drivers was behind the wheel of an i3 using the range-extender. When the driver attempted to pass another vehicle on a rolling, two-lane road, the BMW suddenly had no power to accelerate - a scary situation. CR started examining the car and found something pretty shocking: After driving at a constant speed for a while without any regenerative braking in range-extended mode, acceleration to 60 miles per hour plummeted from about 9 seconds normally to a staggering 27 to 40 seconds in their testing.
A BMW spokesperson told CR that it knows about the problem and has a fix coming next spring that also works on current models. The upgrade includes a state of charge indicator, a warning about loss of power and uses the car's navigation to boost the battery before driving on rolling terrain. It is not clear if the severe power deficiency will also eventually result in a recall.