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2011 Consumer Electronics Show

The pace of development in the world of consumer electronics – particularly touchscreens, Smartphones and tablet devices – is increasingly influential on the world of automotive design. So with the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, we thought it high time for Car Design News to attend. Below are a few articles hailing from the world's biggest electronics trade show.

News watch March 2011: today's auto industry news

Welcome 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-hour Thursday 31 March 2011• US President Barack Obama has strated all US government cars and trucks purchased from 2015 must be alternative-fuel vehicles (Automotive News)• Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has denied a report in Japan's Nikkei newspaper that he is leaning towards a formal merger of Nissan and Renault (Reuters)• Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne says that Chrysler's share IPO may now take place in 2012, depending on financial progress this year (Bloomberg)Wednesday 30 March 2011• Tesla CEO Elon Musk has called a report that the EV carmaker is a takeover target 'bad analysis' and remains confident the firm will stay independent (Bloomberg)• The BBC denies that it rigged a December 2008 Top Gear TV test of the Tesla Roadster, in response to being sued by the EV carmaker (BBC News)• First Group, the UK's largest public transport operator, has announced a £160m investment in new buses, ordering 955 new buses from UK manufacturers Wrightbus and Dennis over the next two years (BBC News)• Japanese production woes look set to continue into April. Toyota expects the majority of Toyota and Lexus production on 14 April (Automotive News)• Saab production has re-started again, following a half yesterday afternoon.

Callaway to give 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra a boost

Callaway has just announced the debut of supercharged versions of the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks. This news comes only weeks after Callaway made known their intentions to fit market a version of the Silverado with an Eaton TVS supercharger. The Connecticut-based tuner has developed a new supercharger manifold and some other hardware for the new Chevrolet L83 Ecotec engine, which is expected to produce around 455 hp (though these are preliminary figures).