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Lancia to unveil its Chrysler-based flagship and a new Ypsilon

Lancia's Chrysler-based flagship likely will be called the Thema, company sources said. The sedan will debut alongside a new version of Lancia's best-selling model, the Ypsilon, at the Geneva auto show in March. The Ypsilon is key to Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne's plan to nearly triple Lancia sales in the next four years.

Alan Mulally joins ‘Innovation power panel’ Keynote at CES

An ‘Innovation Power Panel' Keynote was the highlight of the second full morning of the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Underlining the importance of this event to the automotive industry, and the importance and weight the automotive field now carries in the consumer electronics sphere, Alan Mulally – President and CEO of Ford motor company – was part of a three-person panel exploring how companies innovate, cope with failure and the relentless pace of change in the electronics world. Mulally was joined by Ursula Burns, Chairman and CEO of Xerox Corporation and John Stratto, Enterprise Executive at Verizon, the US telecoms company.

Tesla asks NHTSA to investigate fires

In response to concerns following a recent accident which appeared to result from road debris damaging the underside of a battery compartment of a Tesla Model S, causing a fire in the engine compartment, the company has announced that it has requested that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conduct a full investigation into the fire incidents. In a blog post, Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote the following about the investigation: "While we think it is highly unlikely, if something is discovered that would result in a material improvement in occupant fire safety, we will immediately apply that change to new cars and offer it as a free retrofit to all existing cars. Given that the incidence of fires in the Model S is far lower than combustion cars and that there have been no resulting injuries, this did not at first seem like a good use of NHTSA's time compared to the hundreds of gasoline fire deaths per year that warrant their attention." Tesla has also released a software update to the cars which will maintain their standard ride height at highway speeds, preventing the air suspension from lowering the car an extra inch at highway speeds for greater aerodynamic efficiency.