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Editors' Choice: Top Five 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show Debuts

Consider the 2015-16 auto show season officially kicked off. The Frankfurt Motor Show offered a great look at the newest crop of production cars and conceptual machines, and brought some old favorites back into the spotlight for a closer look. (The Alfa Romeo Giulia, for example, debuted in June, but this was the first time most of us saw it.) Now that the dust has settled and we're all on flights back to the US, our editors cast their votes for their personal favorites from the Frankfurt show. These are the cars we truly loved seeing the most. But unlike other shows, there was no one runaway winner – all of the Top Five received positive praise from our team. We won't spoil the results, though. Scroll down to see what we liked most from this year's Frankfurt expo. 5th Place – MERCEDES-BENZ IAA CONCEPT View 12 Photos MIKE AUSTIN: The clean lines on this concept have me excited for a more elegant beauty to future Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Next to the Concept IAA, the lovely S-Class Coupe looks like an overstyled barge. DAVID GLUCKMAN: Yeah, the extendable rear is neat and all, but I'm more interested in the front-end styling of this one. It looks like the Tron version of a 300SL, in a good way. I'm hopeful it portends the future of Mercedes design. STEVEN EWING: I was super impressed when Mercedes said that, with the rear end extended, this concept has a drag coefficient of just 0.19. That's crazy aerodynamic. I'm not head-over-heels about the styling, but I think the lessons learned from this concept are really important, and will play a huge role in the future of Mercedes' products. 4th Place – ALFA ROMEO GIULIA View 15 Photos SEYTH MIERSMA: I can hardly express how in love with this car I am. The styling feels creative, modern, and evocative, without going over the top. The proposed performance is spectacular. And the Alfa badge speaks to a legacy of romantic motoring. DAVID GLUCKMAN: Pretty Italian car makes big promises and will probably deliver on about three quarters of them. I think that will still be enough for me. JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: I'm really intrigued by the Giulia. It looks great, sounds awesome, and I'm expecting it to have a load more character than its German rivals. I hope I'm not disappointed. 3rd Place – JAGUAR F-PACE View 15 Photos GREG MIGLIORE: It's the first SUV for Jaguar, and I think they nailed the design, capability, and electronics. It's the right car at the right time.

Recharge Wrap-up: Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive goes on sale in Europe, Spain gets Nissan Leaf taxis

The new Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive goes on sale in Europe on November 3, with deliveries starting before the end of the year. Developed with the help of Tesla, the new electric B-Class offers more than 132 kilowatts (177 horsepower) and 250 pound-feet of torque. It features Economy Plus, Economy and Sport driving modes. An optional radar support system uses the collision prevention assist sensors to help make smarter decisions about when and how to use the regenerative braking. The B-Class Electric Drive also offers an optional Range Plus button, which can unlock more battery capacity when charging for the occasional longer drive. Learn more in the press release below. Racing returns to the streets of Miami for the first time in more than a decade for the Formula E Miami ePrix on March 14, 2015. Formula E has revealed the track layout, which takes the race around the Miami Heat's home court, American Airlines Arena, along the Biscayne Bay. "This event will help to make Miami more of a sports city," says Mayor Thomas Regalado. "In addition, we will show the younger generations that you may have motor racing without noise or pollution." Read more about the event at the Formula E website and see the track layout in detail here. Hyundai has delivered the first ix35 Fuel Cell vehicles to customers in the UK, including clean energy company ITM Power. ITM is responsible for three of the hydrogen refueling stations being built around the EU as part of the Hydrogen For Innovative Vehicles project - the same project that helped bring the Hyundai ix35 (also known as the Tucson) Fuel Cell to Europe. ITM's 700-bar hydrogen stations will be built in London by Spring 2015, each with its own electrolyzer system on site. In the meantime, ITM will use the ix35 for commutes between London and Sheffield, refueling at a site that uses wind-generated electricity from an on-site turbine to power the electrolyzer to make the hydrogen. Learn more in the press release below. Demand for aluminum is expected to climb as China builds more electric cars. Aluminum supplier Novelis says demand will likely increase 30 percent annually for the next 10 years in China, Japan and Korea, and possibly more depending on how China's plan to increase EV use and decrease air pollution shakes out. Read more at Bloomberg. Barcelona and Madrid have received their first all-electric taxis in the form of Nissan Leaf EVs.

UK workers strand car on island of asphalt to keep working

Generally speaking, when you illegally park your car, you're likely to get ticketed and towed, but there is probably at least one motorist in Scotland who wishes that was the case. After workers had blocked off a portion of the parking lot for the Edinburgh Waverley railway station, the driver of this Mercedes-Benz S-Class reportedly moved some of the barriers to park in one of the empty spots.
Rather than having the vehicle towed, the work crew simply tore up the asphalt around the leaving just the one parking spot intact, and as you can see in the image above (posted to the Twitter account of Harold Norstad), the crew even built a small asphalt ramp so the car could get off its blacktop pedestal. Since this happened last week, there's no word as to whether the car was eventually moved or towed for the resurfacing work to continue.
Let this be a warning...