By Tim Moran – NY Times

The 2010 Lexus HS 250h is a statement car and is definitely not your ordinary mid-size luxury sedan.

Lexus has been selling hybrid versions of its RX luxury crossover, GS sports sedan, and of course the LS sedan for a few years.

Lexus introduces the world’s first hybrid-only luxury vehicle. Not to be confused as a morph of the Toyota Prius, the Lexus HS is a standalone, dedicated hybrid luxury car.

Lexus HS uses a 147-hp, 2.4-liter Atkinson-cycle engine. After you push the “start” button, a space-age navigation screen rises up from the center console. That’s it, the HS 250h car is actually running, even though you can’t hear the traditional engine noise.

The front-wheel drive HS 250h is deceptively fast while cruising down the road. The vehicle is rated as a Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle, and emits an impressive 70 percent fewer smog-forming emissions than the average new car.

The five-passenger HS 250h sedan base price starts at $34,200 and offers numerous features including: 10 standard airbags, daytime running lights, active headrests for front seats, vehicle stability control, anti-lock brakes with brake assist, direct-type tire pressure monitoring system, headlight-off delay feature, remote-activated illuminated entry and Lexus Safety Connect with automatic collision notification and emergency assist button.

An option for buyers is a pre-collision system the includes dynamic radar cruise control and driver monitor.

Although the Lexus HS 250h was not designed or intended to be a performance car, but the vehicle’s ride and handling is excellent.

BMW is taking a big chance with its 7 Series luxury sedans. The luxury German automaker is offering the only luxury sedan in its class, that don’t include a V-8 engine and priced above $70,000.

Will the risk pay off is the big question.

BMW’s 2011 740i will be priced at $70,150. The longer version, 740Li, will go for $74,550. In addition, there’s a $875 destination charge on top of the base cost.

Utilizing BMW’s Efficient Dynamics philosophy, the twin-turbo V-6 will offer 315 horsepower.

Now BMW claims its modern engines can “equal or exceed” the outputs of older, larger engines with more cylinders.

The key is whether the luxury market will accept that claim and pay the high price.

Or will shoppers simply decide to choose a V-8 engine in either the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Audi A8 or Jaguar XJ. Another option is shell out about $80,000 for the BMW 750.

Learn more at www.bmw.com

Millionaire’s Concierge specializes in the best the world has to offer – personal concierge, mansion rental, air charter, exotic car rental, luxury yacht rental & concert tickets.

Millionaire’s Concierge is like having an executive assistant who has connections with everyone in the world of high society

If you are looking for that ultra-luxury Christmas gift, then take a look at these Santa favorites from Millionaires Concierge –

FIGHTER JET EXPERIENCE
(fighter jet flight 30min,45min 1hr)

TREASURE ISLAND
(limo, helicopter, boat, private island dinner)

FORMULA 1 DRIVE EXPERIENCE
(drive a real 1.5 mill formula  racecar)

007 MISSION
(limo, helicopter, airboat, stunt plane, race boat)

ULTIMATE YACHT CHARTER
(105ft luxury yacht charter miami/ft laud fl)

Courtesy of: Ferrari

Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, is well known around the world as a luxury waterfront retreat, and for building the most extravagant and outrageous architectural resort hotels.

Now Dubai has set another landmark by recently opening the world’s largest store selling the prestigious Italian sports car Ferrari.

For the opening of the boutique, Italian automaker Ferrari delivered about 100 classic as well as several modern models, including the awesome California Roadster.

The store grand opening was attended by Kimi Raikkonen and Giancarlo Fisichella, the current pilots of the world car racing championship ring “Formula 1″.

All the luxury cars will take part in the race Dubai – Abu Dhabi, which will culminate in the new route “Formula 1″, located on an artificial island of Yas.

Courtesy of: Ferrari

We reported last week about the grand opening of world’s largest Ferrari Store in Dubai. Also coming is the world’s first Ferrari theme park and largest attraction of its kind.

The theme park named, Ferrari World Abu Dhabi will feature an iconic sleek red roof, inspired by the classic double curve side profile of the Ferrari GT body. The roof will span over 2 million square feet and showcase the largest Ferrari logo ever created.

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi park is scheduled to open in 2010 but already has the racing car industry buzzing in anticipation.

There will be a number of attractions at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, including multiple rides for children of all ages and the world’s fastest rollercoaster, which will travel at speeds exceeding 124 mph.

On tap is another exciting ride that will rocket passengers through the roof up to about 203 feet. This experience will simulate the G-forces that are experienced by Formula 1 car drivers.

The site for Ferrari World Abu Dhabi is located on Yas Island, which is on the North East side of Abu Dhabi’s mainland.

It’s just a short 10-minute drive from the Abu Dhabi International Airport and about 50 minutes from Yas Marina Circuit, which will host the inaugural Abu Dhabi GP later this year.

Courtesy of: Mercedes

The all-new Mercedes 2010 E-Class series of vehicles continues to prove just how advanced these German designed cars really are.

It’s obvious that one look at an E-Class car and you can quickly see the complete effort: planning, designing, testing, and overall driver luxury goes into creating a line of cars.

The E-Class has a feature called Attention Assist which is amazingly cool and incredibly brilliant. Mercedes mentions that that people who wrongly drive when they are tired and drowsy get into car accidents approximately 100,000 times a year. That is surprisingly almost as much as driving while intoxicated.

The Attention Assist feature monitors about seventy different parameters to develop a baseline of your driving habits. It then uses that data to compare it in real-time against your current driving habits.

As you begin to drive your car, the intuitive system automatically is monitoring different things that you do for the first 20 minutes. Variables are measured such as how aggressive you are with the steering wheel, braking patterns, and much more.

Once that personal driver baseline is determined, the car’s system then can decide if your patterns changed for the worse and then alerts you. The driver receives both an audible alert, in addition to a visual one in the instrument cluster.

Research conducted by Mercedes shows that drivers of their luxury cars typically have a heart-rate that’s reduced by 5% compared to other drivers of other brand vehicles.

Why you ask? Well, it seems the reason is because of how much attention Mercedes pays to the vehicle’s cabin and the entire experience of making the driver feel like a driver. A driver that’s driving safe and comfortable is more at ease.

Another intelligent feature on the new E-Class is named the Adaptive High Beam Assist. It uses a camera that views oncoming headlights and taillights of cars in front of you. Based on that information, it can automatically soften your headlights as other cars pass by to minimize the lighting so not to blind them.

The Adaptive High Beam Assist can actually switch between both your high-beams and low-beams automatically. Even more incredible … the whole system is totally automatic and will auto-adjust your headlights to compensate for 1,000 feet of road (including vehicles) in front of you.

Mercedes also offers another technological achievement titled the Pre-Safe Brake. It utilizes a feature called Distronic Plus that uses radar to detect whether another vehicle that’s front of you has stopped and actually stops your car in emergency conditions. The system works by sensing that a possible rear collision may occur and sounds three warning tones to alert you.

Although the Mercedes 2010 E-Class is loaded with features, the car is also very customizable. You can easily configure your car and turn on or off the array of advanced features as you wish.

Courtesy of: Gotham Dream Cars

Gotham Dream Cars is owned by Noah Lehmann-Haupt, who started the company five years ago with a single car and a dream to offer people who wanted a taste of the high life the and a chance to rent super-exotic luxury cars.

Gotham Dream Cars offers exotic vehicle rentals, driving experiences and fractional ownership in the Northeast region as well as Central and South Florida. The benefits of their fractional ownership car club (DreamShare membership club) is for people who want a taste of luxury, without the hassles of ownership.

With the country’s largest dedicated fleet, the driving experiences found at Gotham Dream Cars are unique and backed with unprecedented customer service. Gotham Dream Cars offers car-lovers the joy of ownership without the hassles of maintaining or insuring the often-finicky high-end vehicles.

Gotham Dream Cars is the leading source for “ultra-exotic” and luxury vehicle rentals. In 2008, the company was ranked number 275 on the Inc. 500, a list of the fastest growing private companies in America.

Gotham Dream Cars was founded for one very simple reason – “We looked for a trustworthy place to rent a supercar in the Northeast – a real supercar – and found none worth a call,” states Noah Lehmann-Haupt, CEO/Founder and an avid car fan.

Founded in New York in 2004, GDC’s successful reputation in the marketplace helped in its expansion to Miami/South Florida in late 2006. Gotham Dream Cars now offers its unique mix of “ultra exotic” rental vehicles from Boston to Washington D.C. (out of its New York office) and from Orlando to the Keys (out of its Florida office.) Its core philosophies – integrity, legitimacy, honestly and reliability – are the cornerstones of its growing national brand.

Courtesy of: Gotham Dream Cars

Gotham Dream Cars’ stable of supercars is the largest fleet of its kind in the country, with 18 cars valued at well over $4 million dollars. GDC offers the “best of the best” including the most exotic, powerful and downright heart-stopping vehicles on the road.

The fleet includes the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, Lamborghini’s Gallardo and Gallardo Spyder, Murciélago and Murciélago LP640 Roadster, the Saleen S7, Ferrari’s 360 Spider and F430, the Aston Martin DB9, Bentley’s Continental GTC and Flying Spur, and Maserati’s GranTurismo and Quattroporte – to name a few.

They also have access to the vehicles in any city the company operates, including NY, NJ, CT, Boston, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, West Palm Beach, etc.

Unlike many of its competitors, Gotham Dream Cars is not a broker, middleman, or outsourcing agent. The company owns and maintains all the vehicles in its fleet, rotates the vehicle selection regularly to ensure variety for its clients, and personally handles every aspect of the rental process, from initial reservation to door-to-door vehicle transportation (via company-owned enclosed auto carriers) to roadside assistance and customer support.

GDC offers three products to serve various customer needs:

•The Dream Car Tour™
An event like no other, the Dream Car Tour™ puts participants behind the wheel of six of the world’s most exhilarating automobiles on more than 150 miles of open road with personal and professional instruction before the four-hour drive. For less than the cost of one standard rental, you can experience half a dozen different exotic sports cars. Cost: $895.00 per person, with non-driving passengers always free, or $595 for dual participants. Cost includes breakfast or lunch and a gift package that includes a certificate of completion, t-shirt, DVD and other mementos of your day.

Courtesy of: Gotham Dream Cars

•Vehicle Rentals
By the day, weekend, week or more, clients have the opportunity to drive some of the world’s greatest exotic and luxury cars with no strings attached. Pricing starts at $395 per day, and amenities include door-to-door delivery and pick-up, no refueling requirement, complementary tolls and GPS navigation, free satellite radio (XM/Sirius) in select vehicles, iPod™ integration in select vehicles, and personalized driving route suggestions.

•DreamShare™ Membership Club
A timeshare/fractional-style club designed to provide a convenient way for frequent drivers to access the entire fleet at affordable rates. Why buy a multi-million dollar car collection when you can access GDC’s for a fraction of the cost? Membership is valid in any city the company operates in and costs $18,000 to $49,000 (Titanium, Elite or Diamond class) depending on usage level.

There is no better way to experience the benefits of owning a multimillion-dollar collection of exotic cars. Members don’t have to deal with the capital requirements of ownership and the hassles of maintenance, downtime, insurance, storage and transport. As a DreamShare member, you focus simply on enjoying the driving experience and leave everything else to Gotham Dream Cars.

More more information, contact Gotham Dream Cars

Courtesy of: Lexus

Toyota’s Lexus recently unveiled its highly anticipated and first-ever LFA Supercar at the Tokyo Motor Show.

Lexus announced that their luxury LFA Supercar will go into production this December. Orders are now being taken at http://www.lexus.com/LFA/.

The launch of the LFA high-performance supercar, illustrates a strategic move by Lexus as it enters the exotic sports car market alongside such legendary names as Ferrari, Lamborghini and Aston Martin.

The LFA will offer a bold design structure with an intensely powerful engine that is unlike any other Lexus vehicle on the road today. Lexus is redefining the supercar for the 21st century.

The first Supercar by Lexus redefines the segment with ultimate performance, featuring:
• 4.8L V10 Engine Generates 552 Horsepower for Powerful Rear-Wheel Drive
• Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Helps Provide a Light and Strong Structure

The Lexus LFA supercar will be on display for the first time in North America at two back-to-back premier venues – the 2009 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) trade show in Las Vegas this November and the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show in December.

In 2010, Lexus will show the LFA Supercar at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Chicago Auto Show, Dallas Auto Show and New York International Auto Show.

As the first Lexus supercar, the LFA serves as the flagship for the F portfolio of Lexus performance models and redefines the supercar for the 21st century. The Lexus F brand complements the core Lexus DNA by emphasizing serious performance. The LFA was carefully developed from a blank canvas by a small and dedicated team of hand-picked engineers that pushed every possible dynamic boundary.

“The development of the LFA was unlike any other Lexus,” said Mark Templin, Lexus division group vice president and general manager. “Minute details were engineered to provide an engaging and serious supercar that delivers impressive performance on and off the race track. Only 500 will ever be built worldwide, and each will be assembled to customer order, offering a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be part of a small, exclusive group of individuals.”

Courtesy of: Lexus

All 500 LFA supercars will be hand-assembled by skilled technicians in the “Lexus LFA Works” at the Motomachi Plant in Toyota City at a rate of no more than 20 per month.

The rear-wheel drive LFA is dynamically styled and powered by a sophisticated new high-revving 9,000 rpm (redline) 4.8-liter V10 engine that generates 552 hp and 354 lb.-ft. of torque for adrenaline-fuelled 202- mph performance. This specially-developed powerplant is paired with a unique six-speed Automated Sequential Gearbox (ASG) with blazing-quick paddle-activated shifts for ultimate driver control.

Linked by a rigid torque tube for excellent drivetrain integrity, the ASG is located in a transaxle layout over the rear axle for an optimal 48:52 front-to-rear weight distribution. Motorsport-developed lightweight aluminum alloy suspension components are complemented by Carbon Ceramic Material (CCM) brake discs and an innovative electrically assisted rack and pinion steering system.

Lightweight, powerful and balanced, the LFA features advanced Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) construction for its chassis and much of its bodywork to deliver a light, incredibly strong and impact-resistant structure. Rather than outsource this sophisticated materials technology, the LFA team took the radical step of developing its own CFRP processes internally for ultimate quality control and to make a sound engineering investment in the future.

The LFA’s sporty styling is distinguished by coherent lines that flow from roof to sill in a seamless convex to concave line for sophisticated aerodynamics. Its front-mid engine layout, long wheelbase, short overhangs, and snug, low-slung cabin identify it as a supercar.

CFRP also gave the LFA’s designers a far higher degree of design freedom, allowing them to create shapes, curves and edges that would have been impossible with metal. For example, the sharp trailing edges at the rear of the LFA that help provide superlative aerodynamics would not have been possible had traditional metal been used for the bodywork.

A dramatic low-slung cockpit has been intelligently designed and hand-assembled with the finest materials to reflect the car’s driver-centric dynamics. The intimate two-seat cabin has been conceived at every stage – ergonomics, acoustics, materials, comfort, versatility and visibility levels have all been painstakingly engineered – to put the driver at the center of the driving experience.

Production of the LFA supercar will begin in December 2010 with deliveries continuing for the following 24 months.

Consumers may contact the Lexus LFA Information Center at 866-LFA-4794 to express interest, or visit www.Lexus-LFA.com for more information.

Photo courtesy of: Hyundai

Hyundai’s new deluxe Genesis sedan had been named the North American Car of the Year for 2009

Selling for less than $40,000, this luxury Hyundai Genesis could easily pass as a twin for a particular German made sedan that costs twice as much money.

The Hyundai Genesis sedan, known as the 4.6 model, is named for its V-8 engine. The large engine offers a whopping 375 horse power but delivers an economical 24 mpg at an average speed of 53 mph.

The Hyundai Genesis 4.6 offers a sooth running six-speed automatic transmission plus rear-wheel drive.

The Genesis 4.6 is priced at $37,250 and has about every modern convenience a luxury drive could want. The sedan comes loaded with rain-sensing wipers, dual-zone automatic heating/cooling, a power rear sunshade in addition to tire-pressure monitors.

A few features the standard 4.6 does lack include, rear-view camera, GPS, swivel headlamps, and backup sensors. These features are of course available as moderately priced upgrades.

The 3.8 model is Hyundai’s entry-level sedan. It comes equipped with a 290hp V-6. The Genesis 3.8 lists at $32,250.

Do to the cost of a new Hyundai Genesis Sedan, some car buyers may wait for used cars to become available.

Hyundai announced the Genesis received the highest score among mid-size premium cars in the latest J.D. Power 2009 Automotive Performance Execution and Layout Study.

For more information, go to Hyundai – Sedan

Photo courtesy of:  autoweek.com

Luxury automobile manufacturer Bugatti, just unveiled a brand new concept sedan – Bugatti Galibier 16C.

What is significant here, is it gives us a heads up to what Bugatti may head after it ends its production of the luxury Veyron model.

The word is that luxury automaker Bugatti plans to introduce the new Galibier 16C concept sedan by 2013.

The plan is for the Bugatti Galibier 16C to have the same 16-cylinder engine as the Veyron.  The difference is that a pair of superchargers will replace the current four turbochargers  in the Veyron.  The Galibier 16C will also offer owners all-wheel drive in addition to am automatic transmission.

Ultimately, the goal is for Bugatti to produce the Galibier 16C and target it as the world’s fastest sedan.

To learn more about new the Bugatti Galibier 16C, go to Autoweek.com

One of the world’s most expensive luxury cars, the DiMora Natalia SLS 2 has been transformed into a sculpture by artist Alexander Ney.

Some of the luxury features of the original luxury car included: headlights that double as video projectors, color changing paint, massage seats for rear passengers, temperature adjusting cup holders, a variable-cylinder 1200 hp aluminum 16 cylinder engine, four wheel steering, a biofeedback system to monitor the owner’s vital signs and adjust the drive and environment according to his tension level, plus more!