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Center stack is new high-stakes battleground; showdown with safety regulators looms

For auto suppliers and gadget companies eager to get a piece of the auto industry, the hottest chunk of vehicle real estate now is the center stack. That corridor of interior space, running from the driver's right hip up through the center of the cockpit to the bottom of the windshield, has become a California gold rush of opportunity. But it is less so for traditional suppliers of molded plastics, cables, levers, buttons and radios.

New December 2008 issue on sale today

By Tim Pollard 29 October 2008 14:46 The new December 2008 issue of CAR Magazine goes on sale today – read on for a guided tour around the pick of our stories, drives and features. Edited highlights include: • CAR is first to drive new Merc SL65 Black Series• Big tests of new Ford Ka and Vauxhall Insignia • The definitive road test verdict on Ferrari’s California: 3000 words, ten pages• We ask the A-list industry chiefs how they’ll survive the crunch• Colin McRae’s tribute one year after his death• Bond special: CAR drives 007’s DBS on location• PLUS! The worst Bond cars ever• The Swiss graveyard for amazing cars• We gatecrash the new Bugatti Grand Sport launch• Mark Walton revisits the Bugatti Veyron supercar• Adventure 1: to Mongolia by Land Rover• Adventure 2: from Boston to California (the British ones) by Dodge Challenger• First drives of new Megane, Q7 V12, Infinitis, Cayman, Twingo, 500, 7-series, RS6• Life with our Lexus IS-F, Caterham, Kuga, Mini, C-class, Bentley Conti• Ferrari 250 GTO, a celebration.

Lexus LFA, from design to dealership in six minutes: Video

Seeing the Lexus LFA in person makes it easy to forget that the supercar has been in development for more than 10 years. But you do get a wondrous amount of technology for $375,000, the carbon-fiber body, a retractable rear wing and a compact V10 so fast that analog gauges couldn’t keep up with it. Add to that 553 hp, 354 lb-ft of torque and a 202-mph top speed, and we just had to put the LFA to the test at our favorite local racetrack.