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Mercedes-Benz C-Class named 2015 World Car of the Year

It's been a good morning for Mercedes-Benz, with three of the company's wares taking home awards today at the New York Auto Show. The 2015 World Car of the Year awards have just been announced, and the charming new C-Class sedan has taken top honors, beating both the new Volkswagen Passat and Ford Mustang. But Car of the Year isn't the only award Mercedes received this morning. Here are the other World Car announcements, where M-B was honored two more times. World Performance Car of the Year: Mercedes-AMG GT World Luxury Car of the Year: Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe World Green Car of the Year: BMW i8 World Car Design of the Year: Citroen C4 Cactus Congratulations, all around, to this fantastic group of cars.

Next BMW 5 Series hits the 'Ring

Here are our latest photos showing the new BMW 5 Series, codenamed G30, testing at the Nurburgring. Based on the fairy door on the left front fender, we'll take this as the purported PHEV version that we caught last time around on German city streets. According to the insiders at BMW Blog, the 5er hybrid will take heavy inspiration from the X5 xDrive40e, including the 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with electric assistance and a combined power rating of about 300 horsepower. The lighter CLAR architecture making its way under the 3, 5, 6, and 7 Series models is expected to remove anywhere from 80 to 100 kilograms in the 5, enabling non-US markets to partake of the 150-hp, turbodiesel three-cylinder engine at the entry-level end. However, the engine symphony will run up the scale through four-, six-, and eight-cylinder registers that include a 400-hp M550 diesel and a 600-hp V8 in the M5. The tech story is 'Go Go Gadget G30,' with rumors of autonomous abilities like being able to overtake other cars on its own – and signaling beforehand – and parking itself. Inductive charging through a floor-mounted plate, as shown at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, a new iDrive layout with a touchscreen and gesture-enabled functions, and over-the-air updates are also expected. We could see it revealed at next year's Geneva Motor Show, or maybe the 2016 Auto China, in Beijing, or sooner.

BMW 6 Series Convertible gets a little work done for 2015

Truth be told, I've never really found the modern BMW 6 Series to be a particularly attractive car, in Coupe, Convertible, or sedan Gran Coupe forms. This current generation certainly looks a whole lot better than the Bangle-fied Six that came before it to my eyes, but on the whole, I find much of the car's design to be fussy and awkward. There's a new 6 Series on the way, scheduled to arrive sometime in 2017 or 2018, but to hold us over until then, BMW is freshening its current range, as evidenced by this convertible prototype our trusty spies recently caught testing.
Will the changes to the current 6 Series be an improvement? Perhaps. Up front, there are restyled headlamps and a new front bumper, and at the rear, BMW has redesigned the LED taillamps to bring them more in line with the rest of the company's offerings. Aside from those modest tweaks, we don't expect much more to change on the Big Six - the interior will likely carry over with some minor tweaks (or new colors), and it's possible the powertrains could be massaged gently for gains in either power, efficiency, or both.
Whether you think this new look is pretty or not, this freshened 6 Series will likely debut sometime next year, while BMW's engineers and designers craft the all-new version. See it from several angles in our gallery, above.