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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.

Official: New Alfa Romeo Spider based on new Mazda MX-5

Following a MOU in May 2012, Alfa Romeo has confirmed they will be launching a new Alfa Spider in 2015 based on the next Mazda MX-5 Back in May 2012, Fiat and Mazda signed a memorandum of understanding to produce a new Alfa Romeo Spider built on the same platform as the next generation Mazda MX-5, and that has now turned in to a solid agreement with the new Alfa Spider arriving in 2015. But this won’t be a simple badge-engineering by Fiat to roll out a new Alfa Spider that’s just the same as the next MX-5 but with a different badge and grill, but will feature different styling and engines to make sure there is real differentiation between the roadsters. That means the new Alfa Spider getting Italian styling (which we hope has more than a passing nod to the original Alfa Spider) an, it’s expected, Alfa’s 1750cc engine we’ll see in the new Alfa 4C when that arrives.

News watch April 2011: today's auto industry news

Come to CAR Magazine's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hourFriday 28 April 2011• Due to UK royal wedding national public holidays, CAR Online news coverage will be reduced until CAR reopens on Tuesday 3 May (CAR)• The Saab financial situation continues to develop. Both the Swedish National Debt Office and General Motors are said to have given their approval for the proposed lease-back sale of Saab property to investor Vladimir Antonov.