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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.

Infiniti QX30 Concept is ready to join the compact crossover fray

Today, the compact crossover market is an automotive Klondike. Automakers are scrambling to stake their claim on an increasingly segmented, increasingly valuable landscape. That's especially true in the premium market, where every Audi Q3, BMW X1, Mercedes-Benz GLA, Lexus NX and Buick Encore sold takes up a piece of market share that requires a great deal of effort for another automaker, in this case Infiniti, to reclaim. That makes the new QX30 Concept, debuting this week at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, an extremely important vehicle for the Nissan-owned brand. The QX30 Concept has already been "earmarked for production" and will be launched next year, according to Infiniti. When that happens, we'll see a compact CUV with toned down styling from the vehicle shown here, much like the upcoming Q30 production model. It's fair to say the looks of the QX30 are in direct opposition to those of the aforementioned Lexus NX. Where that car is sharp and angular, Infiniti's designers emphasized the "spontaneous and fluid" look of the new concept. Infiniti's most recent, Q50-inspired design language works nicely in a compact CUV form factor. The double-arch grille and its flanking headlights give the QX30 a refined, almost predatory look. That, as it turns out, is intentional. "The Q30 Concept was like a panther, lithe and slender. We transformed the QX30 Concept into a mountain lion, strong and muscular," Infiniti's Executive Design Director Alfonso Albaisa said in a statement. The strong, wavy character lines in the profile lead into the short, chopped rear overhangs. Above the beltline, the rear window is raked forward aggressively, lending the QX30 a coupe-like profile. In the cabin, we can already see the makings of a production car's interior, with two strong material choices – dark brown and blue leather – highlighting the dash. On the concept, purple accent lighting is emitted from the center stack's controls, while the violet shade carries over into what looks like a digital instrument cluster and the speaker surrounds in the doors. Sections of quilted leather on the seats, meanwhile, look very nice, but we doubt they will make it to production on what is ultimately going to be a reasonably priced vehicle.

2015 Russian Grand Prix was full of crashes and DNFs

Mercedes-AMG Petronas non-executive chairman Niki Lauda said of Lewis Hamilton's race-day domination this year, "The guy is driving like a god." Qualifying is another story, though – teammate Nico Rosberg taking pole proved that sometimes deities have to settle for second on the grid. Williams driver Valtteri Bottas surprised himself and his team with third place, half a second behind Hamilton but 0.05 sec ahead of the first Ferrari driven by Sebastian Vettel, while a mistake on Kimi Raikkonen's final flying lap left him in fifth, 0.4 sec behind Vettel. The Sahara Force India team had a good showing, with Nico Hulkenberg qualifying sixth just ahead of teammate Sergio Perez in seventh. It's the first time they've had both drivers in the top ten on the grid since the 2014 British Grand Prix. Romain Grosjean is leaving the stormy waters of Lotus at the end of the year for the unknown waters of Haas F1, but he made the shoestring operation look really good before Renault takes over by taking eighth place on the grid. Max Verstappen qualified well again with ninth in the Toro Rosso, ahead of the first Infiniti Red Bull Racing of Daniel Ricciardo in tenth. Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat lined up eleventh for his home grand prix, certainly a disappointment after locking up fifth place on the grid last year in a Toro Rosso. When Pirelli brought soft and supersoft compounds to Sochi, the company said it hoped this year's race would be better than last year's. We're sure this first-lap mishap isn't what they meant. Rosberg and Hamilton dragged it down to Turn 1, with Rosberg getting the inside line. Hamilton had to go wide at Turn 2 as Rosberg fought to hold position, but they left a mess in their wake: Hulkenberg spun going into Turn 2 and stopped in the middle of the track, and Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber – who'd started 16th – collided with him. Both cars were out of the race immediately, and the Safety Car came in. The Safety Car returned to the pits on Lap 3 Rosberg led the field, but just two laps later the German complained of a sticking throttle pedal. Two laps later he had to retire, unable to drive the car properly. That put Hamilton at the front, and we've seen that race a bunch of times before. He built a double-digit lead and never lost it.