Luxury Cars

Rolls serves up something classier than coffee, of course.

Luxury buyers are giving up sedans for highly optioned, limited edition pickups, crossovers, and SUVs, and the Detroit Three are the biggest beneficiaries.

Which luxury brand sold the most cars in 2015? Well... that depends on how you count.

The World Green Car of the Year will be announced at the New York Auto Show on April 17 – and it looks like hats may be tipping toward the BMW i3. Not only did it make the top five finalist list for World Green Car, it was also named a finalist for 2014 World Car of the Year and the World Car Design of the Year.

Cadillac dealers will soon receive deliveries of the all-new 2014 ELR extended range electric luxury coupe. Shipments started from General Motors' Detroit-Hamtramck facility this week, and initial deliveries will take place after the first of the year.

Fascination with Tesla Motors' role in the luxury electric vehicle market continues, even among the competition. Scott Keogh, president of Audi of America recently told Bloomberg that, Tesla is "cool" and "the talk of the town," and that, "what the industry as a whole can learn from them is continue to push innovation, continue to have the challenger spirit."

What's Happening To This Once-Exclusive Segment?

Tesla Motors has taken on the huge challenge of reinventing the car shopping experience – while at the same time delivering what consumers are used to getting when they buy electronic products such as an iPhone. Since 2008, Tesla has opened about 25 retail stores and galleries in North America where consumers can learn about the com

Lexus just announced a previously unheard of – and unthinkable – achievement by an automaker, or any other company for that matter: saving Christmas from being ruined for all the good boys and girls!

While this is a time of retrenchment in electric vehicles (EVs) and alternative powertrains for automakers, BMW appears to be heading in the other direction, Automotive News enterprise editor Dave Guilford writes. Entrepreneurs are Jon LeSage

For the last seven years, BMW has had a stranglehold on the top spot in the luxury car market. That reign is in danger of coming to and end, as Audi sales are on the rise. According to an Automotive News Europe report, Audi cut the difference in sales between itself and BMW to only 2,110 vehicles sold so far this year.

Some would say that 2011 wasn't exactly a banner year, but the good chaps at Rolls-Royce would likely respond with a definitive "Poppycock!" That's because the 107-year-old brand experienced its best-ever sales totals in 2011, with 3,538 very expensive autos sold around the globe. That's a 31 percent increase over the 2,711 models sold in 2010, thanks mostly to brisk sales of the Ghost a

There are a number of simple, reliable truths in the world. The Earth is round. A compass points north. Nobody but the Chinese buy Buicks and Lexus is the best-selling luxury brand in the United States. Well, hold on to your horses. Lowly old Buick, long seen as the doorstop of the luxury segment, has outsold Lexus two months straight and shows no signs of slowing down.

Though the first eight months of 2010, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz were in a dead heat in the race to be crowned the top-selling luxury brand in the States. But big-time September sales at Mercedes-Benz pulled the German marque ahead of Lexus by a substantial Chris Shunk

Up until very recently, the reason that you bought a BMW 3 Series or a Mercedes-Benz C-Class was to prepare you to buy a 5 or an E in a few years. You know, ladders to climb, blowing up to do, de-luxe apartments in the sky to own. These days, according to a new study, that is less and less the case: fewer premium buyers are moving up and more buyers are actually moving down.

Luxury car sales are off by at least one-third compared to last year's numbers, and the end is probably not in sight. In past recessions, the wealthy have been insulated by their money, but not this time. Real estate and banking are responsible for a large amount of the financial pickle we're in, and as those sectors get walloped by reality, the luxury cars typically purchased by agents, brokers, and bankers are languishing.

Click the image above for a hi-res gallery of the Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe

So the Kia VG mule that has kept spy photographers busy the last few weeks has now been given a computer animated face and body. It's a nice looking ride, though has a surprising amount in common with the Hyundai Genesis... which means we also see, well, a lot of other cars in it. But that's not a bad thing, really, because the result is a tasty little creation, especially coming from Kia. The lines

According to Audi, well, all that "ye olde worlde traditional luxury" stuff is great, but it's not the new hotness. Scott Keogh, marketing head for Audi of America, says that the key now is to combine the values of old European luxury -- high quality and traditional prestige -- with new, West Coast luxury values of "a more casual attitude, a sense of Zen and spirit and those types of things."

Take Maserati for example. The exotic Italian brand offers potential buyers who take a new Quattroporte for a spin a pair of Bose headphones valued at around $179. Lexus doesn't even bother with a gift -- its dealers straight up offer you a $100 American Express gift card for taking the new IS 350 for a spin. Bentley is a little more subtle in its giving by offering to donate money to the Breast Cancer Alliance if you try their car.