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The Smart Car has competition – Perhaps!

La Smorsche - the next Smart Car rival?! But where do Supercar makers go with this? Bentley is trying to go down the Bio-Fuel route as an option, and SSC are pursuing the EV route with their latest offering.

Rinspeed Dock + Go concept car (2012) - a more practical Smart

And over on the Rinspeed stand at the 2012 Geneva motor show, you can expect to see the new Rinspeed Dock + Go, a Smart Fortwo with a new mobility concept. It adds a bespoke trailer to the Smart city car, letting customers drive into town two-up in the regular Smart, or go on a longer journey to the seaside with all the clobber (for two, no families allowed – unless the children can be flatpacked into the boot) stuffed into the trailer. Rinspeed Dock + Go: the details Frank Rinderknecht calls the Smart trailer 'a backpack on wheels'.

Volvo picks up Red Dot Design Award for new connectivity system

Volvo's Sensus Connected Touch connectivity system with the world's first voice-activated integrated Spotify connection has been awarded a 2013 Red Dot Design Award. The Sensus Connected Touch accessory turns the integrated 7-inch display into an infrared, beam-scanned touch screen that can be used even when wearing gloves. The system can be controlled using the touchscreen, the steering wheel or the center stack, while you can also voice-activate all music sources. Alain Visser, senior vice president of marketing, sales and customer service at Volvo, says, "The Red Dot Design Award confirms that this approach to an intuitive, human-centric user experience fulfils modern car owners' desire to remain constantly connected also when driving." The WiFi connection can be made using either a car-mounted 3G/4G-dongle or the driver's mobile phone, and the data is transferred by the WiFi between the phone and the Sensus Connected Touch.