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Lexus sales rising strongly in Europe – up 33 per cent in Western Europe

The new Lexus IS (pictured) is leading Lexus’s sales growth in europe There’s lots to like about the Lexus range (even if we would like to see proper gearboxes proliferate), and it seems buyers across Europe are getting more and more enamoured of Toyota’s luxury brand. Lexus are reporting soaring sales in Europe so far in 2014, with sales up by 25.4 per cent over the same period in 2013 (and by 33 per cent in Western Europe) and the Lexus IS leading the way. Lexus IS sales were up to 6,923, followed by the Lexus RX SUV and the compact Lexus CT, with even the massively expensive Lexus LS chipping in 265 sales in the first six months of the year.

Monaco Grand Prix: It’s a Mercedes front row

Nico Rosberg & Lewis Hamilton pictured after making it a Mercedes front row in Monaco Two weeks ago in Spain, Nico Rosberg pipped team mate Lewis Hamilton to pole position, and he’s pulled the same trick on the streets of Monaco today to ensure the second Mercedes front row in succession and his own third pole position in a row. Behind the Mercedes it’s a Red Bull second row, with Sebastian Vettel taking third place and Mark Webber fourth, with the third row made up of the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen and the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. McLaren managed to take seventh (Perez) and ninth (Button) with Sutil’s Force India in eighth and Vergne’s Torro Rosso in tenth.

Fiat gets naughty, supposedly, with the 500 Cattiva special editions

Monterey car week is the perfect time for automakers to launch new concepts and debut special edition vehicles. But it's usually the big names in the luxury/performance world -- the heavy hitters, if you will -- that show up and show off. Cadillac unveiled the Ciel concept a few years back, BMW featured a Zagato roadster in 2012 and the Porsche 918 concept used Pebble as a stage for its first North American appearance.