Mercedez 190d White Gray 4 Cyl Diesel Rwd Manual Sedan on 2040-cars

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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.

2014 Mercedes B-Class ED battery much bigger than previously stated

There was something unexpected hiding in the new configurator for the 2014 Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive: a $600 "Temporary range extender." Since we've never heard of such a thing, we had to click through for more. The official explanation runs like this: A suite of options to further increase your driving range includes added insulation of the doors and roof for to increase climate-control efficiency, along with an electrically heated windshield and a range-extending charge function. By pressing a button on the console prior to charging, the maximum charge level for battery will increased for the next charge cycle. The higher-capacity charge can provide up to 17 additional miles of range. The passive features that increase range should be standard in all models, we think. But we were more curious about the battery charge situation. How do you increase a maximum? And is it a good idea to do so? The configurator includes this disclaimer, after all: Range extender should only be used on a limited basis, and could shorten battery life if used excessively. How much is excessive? We investigate below. The B-Class ED has, according to the specs, a 28-kWh battery. First, let's understand what this "temporary range extender" is all about. The B-Class ED has, according to the specs, a 28-kWh battery. But Terry Wei, from the Mercedes-Benz USA product and technology communications department, confirmed to AutoblogGreen that the B-Class ED is actually hiding a 36-kWh battery, but the automaker is calling it a 28-kWh battery because that's how much energy capacity is used in day-to-day use. Most automakers publicly claim the actual capacity and then admit they use a percentage of it. The Chevy Volt, for example, has a 16.5-kWh battery pack, but a "full charge" only fills up around 65 percent of that. In the B-Class ED, the 28 kWh of useable energy provides an EPA-certified 87 miles of range. But, since there are eight kWh of reserve, the temporary range extender (we think of it as a software update accessed by a button) can access some of that and offer the aforementioned 17 miles. Now that we know what we're dealing with, this reminds us of an evolved version of the "remote wireless charging" feature that was touted in the Reva EV. Wei said that the reason the feature is optional is because Mercedes doesn't think most people will need it. Eighty-seven miles is plenty for your average EV driver, but when you want to have 100+ in the tank, you can.

Mercedes-Maybach Ultimate Luxury SUV concept shown in leaked images

Just days ago, we posted the interior teaser image Mercedes-Maybach released of its Ultimate Luxury concept due to be presented at the Beijing Motor Show. Now photos of the entire vehicle, inside and out, have leaked online courtesy of the manufacturer. Thanks to the concept's own microsite being live for a short while, we've gotten a good look of the concept. And it's not just a dressed-up GLS by any means, even if there might be a GLS platform underneath it all: It's a high-riding four door sedan with a clearly formed trunk instead of a traditional SUV shape. There's a big waterfall grille flanked by low, aggressive three-unit headlights, and the detailing is a combination of SUV cues and something a lot more luxurious. It's not easy to design a three-box sedan that's still recognizably an SUV. Inside, there's white leather and rose-gold detailing everywhere. But the big deal is the powertrain, which in the concept is all-electric. The all wheel drive is propelled with four electric motors, with a combined power output of 750 horsepower. The battery, said to be a flat underfloor design, is good for 80 kWh and an EPA range of over 200 miles, and the vehicle's top speed is limited to 250 km/h, or 155 mph. There's DC fast charging at up to 350kW, meaning that the range can be boosted by 60 miles in just five minutes, and induction charging is also available. All in all, the vehicle reminds us of the 2009 Lagonda Luxury Utility Vehicle concept, which was also created around a three-box sedan shape and also based on a Mercedes platform, GL-Class in that case. It did not yield a production version, but maybe the Vision Ultimate Luxury will. Related Video: Featured Gallery Vision Mercedes-Maybach Ultimate Luxury View 9 Photos Image Credit: Mercedes-Maybach Green Beijing Motor Show Maybach Mercedes-Benz Concept Cars Electric Luxury mercedes-maybach