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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.

Saab 'developing diesel hybrids' to rival PSA's

Saab has been caught testing a 9-3 with a diesel hybrid engine, according to press reports in Sweden. It seems that France's PSA won't have the diesel-hybrid market all to itself. A reporter from Automobil magazine spotted a 9-3 prototype refuelling at a petrol station in Trollhattan as he returned a test car to the factory.

Ford Start concept (w/ Gallery)

Ford unveiled the Start concept at Auto China last week. Designed at Ford's California-based Strategic Concept Group under the direction of Freeman Thomas, the concept demonstrates that a compact car can also be pragmatic and functional. "I'm an enthusiast of minimalism but it should not be cold," Thomas said of the design when we met him in Beijing.