Auto & Car Blog

Filed under: Audio, Gadgets, CES

Pioneer electronics rolled out two custom cars as platforms to show off their latest mobile electronics.

Keith Losier and his team of plasma-torch-wielding Canadians converted an 2006 Pontiac Solstice to a neon green hardtop street racer with a 500 hp supercharged powerplant, 20s on the front, 22s on the back, and a completely reworked plush interior. And, of course, it’s packed with Pioneer gadgets. A 6-disc DVD changer feeds numerous monitors, while Pioneer’s Premier amps overcome the wind noise from all those body mods (and, we assume, the road noise from those 22s).

The 2005 tC was custom-built by Sixth Avenue Electronics using 19-inch wheels, and, in the tC’s trunk, you’ll find two 10-inch subs visible through the car’s rear window connected to four PRS amps cranking out a heart-stopping 4,000 watts of power.

Check out the gallery for 25 more high-res, 1280x photos available for your personal use.

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Filed under: Audio, Gadgets, CES

From our viewpoint here at CES, it looks like automotive electronics manufacturers want nothing more than to fill that gaping hole where your 8-track once was with anything but an 8-track.

So far, Pioneer, Eclipse, TomTom, and even Microsoft are among those introducing all-in-one navigation-giving, MP3-playing, iPod-connecting, Bluetooth-equipped, satellite radio-lovin’, in-car entertainment systems. All are the same, in that they take a bunch of those gadgets off the top of your dash and squash ‘em into a box in the dash.

Microsoft CEO Bill Gates gave his 10th keynote address at CES Sunday night, where he talked about Vista and how it would unify communication in and outside the home. Your car too. Ford’s Executive Vice President Mark Fields flew in from Detroit to join Gates in announcing Sync to a huge CES crowd. Gates started the Sync introduction by saying Microsoft wants to give drivers a safer, “single command” automotive interface that combines all elements of vehicle electronics.

Fields said Sync would be available on a dozen models of early 2008 Fords, Lincolns and Mercurys, including the Edge and the new Focus. Sync will bring together man, machine, mp3 player and mobile phone, allowing drivers to integrate all those devices with their cars. Sync will download, via Bluetooth, all address books and personal ringtones from mobile phones. The system can even be set up to read text messages to drivers, and will translate shorthand like LOL and emoticons. Somehow. But we don’t see how that could be a good thing. Remember the loathed talking cars of the 80s? Ugh.

Descriptions of Pioneer’s and Eclipe’s all-in-ones, and a few more CES keynote photos after the jump.

Continue reading CES 2007: Fill that void in your dash with GPS

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

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Filed under: Hybrid, Toyota

MobileBurn has great images of a tricked-out Camry hybrid in the Nokia booth at CES. Nokia painted the car a cool green with white trees and added a slew of Nokia products. I contacted Nokia and Keith Nowak told me, “At each trade show, we generally do have a car in our booth to use as a platform for some of our automotive products - like handsfree kits and navigation devices. This year, since we are highlighting some of our environmental efforts as well, we decided that we would use a hybrid vehicle to stay in the theme - in this case, a Toyota Camry Hybrid.”

Fitting the green theme perfectly is Nokia’s 3110 Evolve cell phone and eco sensor concept which are also at the show. While very cool, I am not sure I can approve of the energy drain to the car’s battery caused by these un-essential devices. Except for that Nokia internet tablet which is really cool and therefore essential.

Related:

• Frankfurt 2007 videos: Fiat ecoDrive, Peugeot Flux, Chevy Trax
• CarChip E/X: a great gadget to teach green driving
• Beep-beep! TPMS-lite tire cap blinks when tire pressure drops

[Source: MobileBurn, Nokia]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, MPG, GM, Saturn, Detroit Auto Show, USA

In his CES keynote, part of which you can watch above, General Motor’s CEO Rick Wagoner hints that an announcement with the release date for GM’s first plug-in hybrid is coming “very soon.” GM told us the release date for Saturn Vue plug-in might be in the end of 2008 or “2009-ish” range. From what Rick says in his keynote, I get the feeling we might get news of a firm release date at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show. Here is exactly what he said (watch 5:30 into the video above):

We’ve already announced our intention to build a “plug-in” version of our Saturn VUE hybrid. Our team is hard at work to get this technology to market as soon as we can. Expect an announcement on the VUE plug-in hybrid very soon.

I guess we will find out next week when the 2008 Detroit Auto Show begins. If there is news of a release date in Detroit, the best I am hoping for is an October 2008 release and maybe a few details about possible MPG ratings for the vehicle. If anyone can buy and drive off with the Saturn Vue PHEV from the Detroit Show floor, that would be okay too, I guess.

[Source: YouTube]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

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