Audi at CES 2011

Audi will position itself as the leader in in-car electronics, is working on augmented reality head up and 3D cockpits displays, and has already integrated NVIDIA's very latest Tegra 2 super processor to power the HMI of the next A3. Those were just a few of the highlights from a keynote speech given by Rupert Stadler, Chairman of Audi, on the opening morning of the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Stadler drove onto the stage in the E-tron Spyder concept last seen at the Paris auto show — here painted a fetching shade of deep red — together with CES founder and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, Gary Shapiro.

Ford Figo – Cool for India

The Ford Figo - made in India For has spent a few bob – around £300 million – expanding its car making facilities in India at Chennai to make the plant capable of producing 200,000 cars a year which, as Alan Mullaly, Ford’s CEO said, does show how serious Ford are about the Indian market. The Figo – which is apparently colloquial Italian for ‘Cool’ – shares Ford’s small car platform, which means that under the skin it’s a Fiesta. It looks like a Ford too, with the usual ford ‘Kinetic’ design cues written all over it.

New BMW voice control system

BMW are fitting a new voice control system to their cars from September Hopefully this will work. My own experience of voice control systems is not great – I usually end up doing it manually through the interface. But with BMW’s pretty complicated iDrive system it will be a big plus, and safer, to speak your commands.