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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.

2013 Ford Mondeo: Paris 2012

Ford has given the new Mondeo its first public outing at the 2012 Paris Motor Show, and it looks a good effort. But the new 2013 Ford Mondeo no longer has the advantage of being a default buy for families, so Ford are working hard to make the Mondeo stand out from the mainstream offerings in the C/D segment by making it appear to more ‘Premium’ than just a mere Ford. That means a new nose – a nose that looks like it belongs on an Aston Martin – and a clever range of technology and engines that actually offer more – and for less – than most of the premium car makers can manage.

New Lotus Elise in 2015

The 2015 Lotus Elise Of all the Lotus reveals today at the Paris Motor Show, the new Lotus Elise is perhaps the one most easily understood. After all, the current Lotus Elise has been with us for a decade and will be a rather long-in-the-tooth model by the time Lotus turns up with this replacement in 2015. Although the new Lotus Elise will be the closest to Colin Chapman’s vision of a real Lotus, it will be a bit on the pricey side, with prices starting at around £40k.