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These are the top luxury cars bought by people entering the segment for the first time

Let's say you just got a big promotion at work or the kids are moving out of the house, and you finally have some extra money. You decide to blow it all at once and treat yourself by upgrading your ride. Naturally, you look to a luxury automaker. What do you choose?
Models like the Audi A3 and Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class may be tailor-made to introduce buyers to the premium segment, but a new study finds that they don't garner the highest rates of non-luxury customer conquests. It turns out that a Volvo leads among folks moving up to a premium brand, and it isn't even one that's made anymore, at that.
A recent study by Polk and IHS Automotive looked at what models had the highest rates of buyers upgrading from a non-luxury segment. The information comes from its new vehicle registration data through April 2014. All ten top models boasted conquest rates of over 50 percent, but the Volvo C70 led the field with 68.01 percent of its customers coming from non-premium brands.

Audi starts new e-gas partnership with Global Bioenergies

Audi continues to try to build its green-car cred with one more partnership to produce synthetic fuels made from renewable resources. The German automaker is hooking up with France-based Global Bioenergies to make a synthetic biofuel called e-gasoline. Audi says making this e-gas "does not create competition with food production and farmland," nipping that argument in the bud. Last summer, Audi opened a power-to-gas facility in Werlte, Germany. That factory produces hydrogen and synthetic methane, which are made from renewable energy sources such as water and excess carbon dioxide. The E-gas plant uses electrolysis to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen; those elements will later be set aside to power fuel-cell vehicles but in the near term, the plant will make synthetic natural gas. Audi started delivering e-gas in Germany in the fall of 2013 and estimated that it would make enough of the stuff each year to power 1,500 Audi A3 Sportback G-tron vehicles for more than 9,000 miles. Audi also operates a research facility in Hobbs, New Mexico, with renewable fuel company Joule. That plant produces e-ethanol and e-diesel. Check out Audi's press release about its new Global Bioenergies partnership below. Audi launches strategic partnership with Global Bioenergies Premium carmaker and biotechnology company developing the drop-in biofuel Audi e-gasoline Reiner Mangold, Head of Sustainable Product Development: "Another step closer to carbon-neutral mobility with Global Bioenergies" e-gasoline part of the big Audi e-fuels strategy Audi is launching a strategic partnership with Global Bioenergies. The carmaker will work with the French biotechnology company to promote the development of non-fossil fuels. In addition to the Audi e-gas and e-diesel projects, the research into e-gasoline is part of Audi's persistent efforts to find alternative fuels. Reiner Mangold, Head of Sustainable Product Development at AUDI AG: "We're taking another step closer to carbon-neutral mobility with our partners at Global Bioenergies. We are supporting an innovative technology here which can be used to produce renewable fuel. This process does not create competition with food production and farmland." e-gasoline is part of the overall Audi e-fuels strategy. Audi is already operating a research facility for the production of e-ethanol and e-diesel with its partner Joule in Hobbs, New Mexico. The Audi e-gas plant in Werlte began feeding into the grid a few months ago.

2015 Audi A8 and S8 get some new goodies

Luxury car buyers are a demanding bunch. They've got this crazy notion that just because they're spending the better part of a hundred grand on a top-tier luxury sedan, they should get the very best and the cutting edge of what the industry has to offer. That has tended to come down to the S-Class even when it had grown long in the tooth, and now that Mercedes-Benz has rolled out an all-new version, the competition is falling all over itself to release updates to keep their flagship sedans in the running. Jaguar did that just yesterday with its XJ sedan, and now Audi has revealed the latest revisions to its A8 range.
Set to debut at the Frankfurt show in just a few weeks from now, the latest A8 (and its performance version, the S8) benefits from a series of stylistic, powertrain, and technology upgrades. Among the most prominent, of all things, are the new Matrix LED headlights that can automatically lower the high-beams for oncoming vehicles, with integrated turn signals that light up to point in the direction the driver's about to turn. But that's hardly the end of the story.
Audi has apparently reduced the output on the 3.0-liter supercharged V6 to from 328 horsepower to 310 but raised the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 from 414 hp to 435, which now offers a 0-60 run of just 4.5 seconds. That's just three tenths behind the S8, which remains unchanged at 513 hp, as does the 493-hp 6.3-liter W12. The 3.0-liter TDI is up from 247 hp to 258, the 4.2-liter TDI grows from 345 hp to at 385 (with a massive 627 pound-feet of torque to boot) and the hybrid that offers a combined 245 hp and 354 lb-ft. That makes for one massive array of engines globally, although only some of them will be offered Stateside. Each is mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission and Quattro all-wheel drive, but thanks to the A8's lightweight construction, it's lighter than any other all-wheel-drive model in its class.