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CES 2011 opens in Las Vegas

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 world's biggest electronics trade show, the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), opening today in Las Vegas, we thought it high time for Car Design News to attend.  The 2011 show has a strong automotive flavor, more so than in any previous year. CES was the event at which Ford chose to launch its industry leading in-car connectivity feature, Sync, in 2008 and, for the third year running, Ford CEO Alan Mulally will deliver a keynote address, during which he is expected to unveil Ford's Nissan Leaf-rivaling, electric-powered Focus.

VW Touareg R-Line arrives & Volkswagen cut price of VW CC

Volkswagen has launched the Touareg R-Line in the UK with sporty looks and extra equipment,  and cut the price of the VW CC. A lot of VW’s SUVs – big and small – do conspire to look a bit bland in standard guise, so to give sales a bit of a boost VW is busy rolling out the R-Line option to tart up their cars a bit. Latest to arrive is the VW Touareg R-Line – Volkswagen’s biggest SUV – which gets the full R-Line makeover with a sporty take on the Touareg’s look by adding new butch bumpers and side skirts, the addition of a set of 20″ Tarragona alloys, R-Line badges – inside and out – and panoramic roof.

On display at the Petersen museum, the best of the worst!

They're so bad they're good, these cars, good enough to warrant a museum exhibit. Starting Feb. 28 and running through the end of September, the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles celebrates all that is good about bad car ideas in an exhibit titled "What Were They Thinking?" Sure, there are Edsels and Amphicars.