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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.

Poll: Spouses rank as worst backseat drivers

Spouses beat out mothers and children as the worst backseat drivers, according to 500 drivers recently polled by Insurance.com. For men, 40 percent said their wives were worst, followed by friends at 17 percent and mothers at 15 percent. Thirty-four percent of the women ranked their husbands worst, 18 percent said their mothers and 15 percent said their friends.

McLaren MP4-12C named

The McLaren P11 has now been named - it will be the McLaren MP4-12C Update 9/9/09: McLaren has now released full details and pictures of the McLaren MP4-12C Update 10/0/09: Ron Dennis talks about the MP4-12c and McLaren Automotive’s future plans. But of course it’s about McLaren history, and more than a passing nod to its F1 heritage. The McLaren F1 cars are all dubbed MP4, but I think we’d prefer to have seen something like McLaren F2.