By most accounts, China is expected to become the world's largest market for luxury cars before the end of the decade. But BMW is apparently in a rush there and expects the booming Asian nation to overtake the U.S. as its lead market by the end of 2013.

Panera Bread is suspending part of altruism experiment the "pay-what-you-can" for a single at specific stores. The company said it was mis-targeted, and got lost in the noise of other brand promotions. Panera said it may bring back on a seasonal or short-term basis a program it was testing in the St. Louis area in which it offered one menu item on the pay-what-you-can platform.

Boston-based New Balance is unveiling a new brand campaign called, "Runnovation" meant to reflect the brand's "long-standing commitment to innovation and evolution around the sport of running," and the Runnovation campaign will seek to document "real people" who are "redefining the current state and future of running," the company said.

Tesla Motors Inc. is building Model S electric sedans faster than its initial 400-a-week goal as demand and the company's production skills increase, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said. "We're above 400 a week at the current manpower, and not trivially above it," Musk said Wednesday in an interview at the company's Fremont, California, plant, declining to elaborate ahead of Tesla's release of second-quarter results. In late 2014, the pace is "going to 800 a week. I'm very confident we'll get there," said Musk, who is also Tesla's biggest investor.

NBA Hall of Famer, author, reality TV show star and self-professed international diplomat Dennis Rodman is moving into the next phase of his public life - putting his name and image behind Bad Boy Vodka, which is described as being "smooth, classic, tough, edgy."

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is going for the throat with new ads showing photos of animals being skinned but they are made to look as if affluent people in furs and skins are there. Slogan: "When you buy it, you become part of it." The aim of the new ads -- to debut in in New York City during Fashion Week in September -- is to get people to think twice about leather shoes, alligator belts or fur hats.

Here, for your amusement solely, is a roster of movie stars and the TV spots in which they got their starts. Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck, and a mess of others started as mortals -- actors just trying, like a million others, to get a break. Burger King, Pringles, and some other, lesser known brands made them stars. Or at least paid their bills.

With new products like the GT Speed convertible, its fastest convertible, Bentley saw demand growth in 2013. Global sales rose 9%, to 4,279, over the same period a year ago, according to the British luxury brand. But that's still well off the record pace Bentley set in 2008, just before the global economic collapse.

Kroger's Central Division will stop the long-standing practice of doubling the discount on manufacturer coupons and turn to price slashing instead. Double couponing, a staple of Kroger since the 1980s doubles the value of a coupon.The Cincinnati-based grocer said the shopper incentive is not generating enough interest anymore. It will halt the practice at the end of this month.

Nissan is hoping to break through a couple of barriers that has kept its Leaf electric vehicle from moving like hotcakes, or at least bialis: first, a price-reduced entry-level version. Now the brand is hoping to deal with "range anxiety." The company announced that it plans to install more than 100 public DC chargers at dealers certified to sell Leafs in 21 US markets.