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Did BMW really win the luxury car sales race?

As anyone who follows our monthly By The Numbers series already knows, the luxury car sales race in the United States was close all of last year as BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz seesawed up and down for sales supremacy. At the end of the year, it was BMW on top of the standings with 346,023 total sales. Or was it? According to data released by Polk, comparing the actual number of vehicles registered between the three top luxury players in the US paints a slightly different picture. Polk's data suggests that only 335,259 BMWs were registered in 2015, compared to 340,392 Lexus models. Why the disparity? It's all a matter of timing. Actual end consumers buy new cars, in almost all cases, from a franchised dealer. BMW delivered 346,023 vehicles in 2015, but only 335,259 of them were registered by their new owners. Presumably, those 11,000 BMWs did (or will) end up registered in the driveways of consumers, but they hadn't before January 1, 2016. Lexus General Manager Jeff Bracken wrote in an email to Automotive News, "Luxury sales leadership as measured by vehicle registrations is important to Lexus as it represents actual consumers engaging directly with our dealers." Of course, it goes without saying that we'll be paying keen attention to the 2016 luxury car sales race as it unfolds. If it's anything like it was in 2015, it'll come down to the wire, and even then may not be entirely clear. Related Video: News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty BMW Lexus Mercedes-Benz Car Buying Car Dealers Luxury luxury cars

Production Lexus RZ 450e leaked ahead of official debut

The Lexus RZ 450e isn't supposed to debut until April 20, but some screenshots from Japan may have revealed the production EV's look. Unsurprisingly, they look pretty close to the official concept images we've seen before. In some ways toned down for production, in other ways amped up. The images appear to have been leaked in a Japanese Discovery Channel promo, which users at RZforums.com screen captured. The screenshots show a burnt orange-colored RZ driving on a test course in Japan. The inescapable dress-up comes in the form of a black hood that emphasizes the Lexus spindle grille. Though it's been in use for over 10 years now, it remains a controversial piece of Lexus design. It works better on some cars than others, but in the case of the RZ the company seems to want to double down on accentuating its lines. On the other hand, the concept's body-colored nose seems to have been replaced with a black section where the grille might have resided on a internal combustion car. This lets the RZ maintain a semblance of grille without actually having one. The result is a more traditional-looking face than the Mirai-esque concept schnoz. It should be noted that the production car wears a black roof as well, which the concept does not. Overall, the Lexus RZ's styling departs further from the Subaru Solterra and Toyota bZ4X upon which it is based. While those two are nearly indistinguishable from one another, the Lexus has unique sheetmetal as evinced by its surfacing, C-pillar treatment, and more. Perhaps as the biggest relief to some, the RX eliminates the black cladding on the front fenders for body-colored wings. The Toyota bZ4X is powered either by a single electric motor with 201 horsepower or a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive configuration with 214 horses. Both choices use a 71.4-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery that gets, in the Japanese testing cycle, 310 miles of range in front-drive and 285 miles in all-wheel-drive. The Lexus might get a performance boost, but we won't know until April 20 at the latest. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Lexus IS 200t gets a 245 hp turbo four-cylinder, comes here in 2016

The exact timing isn't clear, but now that we have the good news we're ok with a little wait: in Europe Lexus just replaced the 2.5-liter V6 in the IS 250 with its 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder, and we'll get it. The 2.0-liter currently serves in the NX 200t, putting out 235 horsepower and 258 pound-feet. Car and Driver says it will be tuned differently for what will become the IS 200t, with an output of 241 hp and 258 lb-ft. Those numbers whoop the 2.5-liter V6 by 37 hp and 73 lb-ft, and they're just 65 hp and 19 lb-ft under the 3.5-liter V6 in the much more popular IS 350. Improvements continue in the transmission, the IS 200t getting eight cogs - there won't be a manual option - instead of the six-speed 'box mated to the 2.5-liter now. That means buyers can expect a car that's not only more powerful and more responsive, addressing the two fundamental omissions in the IS 250's list of talents, it will also get better fuel economy than the 21 city, 30 highway miles per gallon the old six-cylinder musters. What they can't expect according to CD is all-wheel drive. We're told the engine swap should come "in the early part of the 2016 model year," and it will only come with rear-wheel drive. C/D says that Lexus will bring a third engine to the range that will power an all-wheel entry, which seems a tad complex to us, but if true it wouldn't be the first time the words "Lexus" and "complex" have cozied up together. A press release from Lexus Europe is below. LEXUS TO LAUNCH IS 200t WITH INNOVATIVE 2.0l TURBO PETROL ENGINE • New turbo engine offers superior smoothness and responsiveness, with no turbo-lag and high fuel efficiency • Engine mated to 8-speed Sport Direct Shift transmission • IS 200t on sale in Europe as from September 2015 Brussels, Belgium, 26 Jun 2015 - Lexus is expanding the range of vehicle equipped with its new 2.0-litre turbo engine. Following the launch of NX 200t in early 2015 and the announced arrival of RX 200t by the end of the year, IS is the third Lexus model to be fitted with this new engine. Powered by a new 2.0-litre petrol turbo engine – with innovative D-4ST fuel injection technology for both fuel economy and instantaneous torque – the Lexus IS 200t sports sedan delivers 245 DIN hp (180kW) with a maximum torque of 350 Nm. Capable of rapid acceleration up to a top speed of 230 km/h, its 8-speed Sport Direct Shift transmission was developed for the high-performance RC F.