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Mark Vaughn: We’ll always have Vegas

There were a few bare spots on the floor of the Consumer Electronics Show this year, spots that in previous years had been jammed sardine-like with myriad Taiwanese makers of Hello Kitty knockoff cell phone cozies and electronic barking dogs, but the show this year was nonetheless pretty well attended. Besides, for those working their way upstream through the aisles like so many digitally trained trout, the empty spots left by exhibitors that pulled out were like refreshing mountain meadows or little piazzas in crowded Italian cities. Show management stocked the open spots with cushy couches, too, on which many a jet-lagged showgoer snoozed.

Suzuki take Volkswagen to court

Suzuki are seeking to get their shares back from VW The partnership between Volkswagen and Suzuki promised so much. VW wanted an easy way in to the car market in India – where Suzuki is very strong – and in return Suzuki wanted access to the sort of technology – hybrid and EV – it couldn’t really afford to develop independently. And all looked rosy when VW took a near 20 per cent stake in Suzuki in 2009 But things started to go a bit awry when VW insensitively referred to Suzuki as an ‘associate’, where it could pull all the right strings, in its annual report.

New Jaguar XJ (2010) – Ian Callum speaks

Ian Callum reflects on the design of the new Jaguar XJ Ian Callum is Design Director for Jaguar, and the man does have a good pedigree. His career started round the corner from us, at Ford’s Design & Research facility at Dunton. He worked on a number of Ford’s RS projects, before moving on to TWR to join Tom Walkinshaw, and was responsible for the design of the Aston Martin DB7 and the Vanquish.