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Pioneer App Radio officially unveiled

Pioneer has officially unveiled the App Radio that AutoWeek told you about earlier this month. Now that it's willing to talk, Pioneer claims that the radio and audio system is "the first in-vehicle product designed to utilize the processing power, storage capacity, network connectivity and apps of the iPhone and iPod Touch as the primary source for its information and entertainment capabilities." That does sound a lot like what Mini Connected and, in a more platform-agnostic sense, Ford Sync are doing. Pioneer said it couldn't speak to the similarity of those systems, but Ted Cardenas, director of marketing for Pioneer's car-electronics division, briefed us on installation of the device and what Pioneer is doing to minimize driver distraction.

Who's where: Jean-Arthur Madelaine-Advenier becomes Citroën's head of interior design

Citroën has appointed Jean-Arthur Madelaine-Advenier as its new head of interior design. The 34-year-old Frenchman joins the firm from Tesla, where he had a brief stint as lead designer for interiors at the US-company's California studio. Madelaine-Advenier graduated from the RCA in London in 2003, then headed to Mercedes' advanced studio in Italy for a three-year stint as a junior interior designer.

New 2014 Mercedes C-Class interior revealed

Ahead of its debut at the Detroit Motor Show in January 2014, Mercedes-Benz has revealed details of the all-new C-Class interior. And if the photos and specification are anything to go by, the gap between the S-Class and the C-Class is about to get narrower. As is becoming increasingly common in the automotive world, strong influence has been drawn from smartphones and tablets, with Mercedes-Benz also leaning heavily on airline and aircraft references.