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2015 will be the biggest year ever for cars at CES

Like the SEMA Show, major automakers are paying increasing attention to the CES, with 2015 expected to be one of the most auto focused yet. Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, General Motors, Hyundai, Mazda, Audi, BMW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will all be in attendance when CES 2015 kicks off next week, taking up a record-breaking 165,000 square feet of space at the Las Vegas Convention Center. "We've come a long way from a single car on a carpet," Ford's Alan Hall told Bloomberg. Unlike SEMA, or a more traditional auto show, like the upcoming festivities in Detroit, CES doesn't necessarily focus on entire cars or the way they perform, but on the way our technology will interact with vehicles, and in how those vehicles will deliver information to drivers. "CES has become a major launch point for a lot of the big automakers," IHS tech analyst Mark Boyadjis told Bloomberg. "CES is a way for them to get on a global stage for technology." As for what kind of wares automakers will trot out in Las Vegas, we already know that BMW will show off an autonomous i3 electric car that can navigate its way through a multistory car park and can be hailed via a smartwatch app. According to Bloomberg, Hyundai will show off its own smartwatch app for the Genesis sedan, while Audi and Mercedes-Benz will show off autonomous vehicles next week. Automakers won't be the only companies looking to capitalize on CES. Tech firms, like chipmaker Nvidia, are becoming increasingly involved in the automotive game and will be in town showing their wares off to OEMs. "Two years ago, our booth would have been filled with PCs and people playing video games," Danny Shapiro, Nvidia's senior director for automotive business, told Bloomberg. "This year we made a strategic decision to shift the focus of the booth on automotive and de-prioritize some of the other things." Needless to say, you can expect to see a lot of news out of Las Vegas come next week. Stay tuned. News Source: BloombergImage Credit: Julie Jacobson / AP CES Audi BMW Chrysler Fiat Ford GM Hyundai Mazda Toyota Volkswagen Technology CES 2015

Consumer Reports says infotainment systems 'growing first-year reliability plague'

The Consumer Reports Annual Auto Reliability Survey (right) is out, and the top two spots look much the same as last year's list with Lexus and Toyota in first and second place, respectively. However, there are some major shakeups for 2014, with Acura plunging eight spots from third in 2013 to 11th this year, and Mazda replaces it on the lowest step of the podium. Honda and Audi round out the top five. This year's list includes six Japanese brands in the top 10, two Europeans, one America and one Korean.
Acura isn't the only one taking a tumble, though. Infiniti is the biggest loser this year by dropping 14 spots to 20th place. Other big losses come from Mercedes-Benz with an 11-place fall to 24th, and GMC, which declines 10 positions to 19th.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's not traditional mechanical bugs hauling down these automaker's reliability scores. Instead, pesky problems with infotainment systems are taking a series toll on the rankings. According to Consumer Reports, complaints about "in-car electronics" were the most grumbled about element in new cars. Problem areas included things like unresponsive touchscreens, issues pairing phones and multi-use controllers that refused to work right.

Fourth-gen Mazda MX-5 Miata could get turbo power later in life

While there's a lot to love about the new Mazda MX-5 Miata, its debut was met by a vocal group of enthusiasts who derided the fourth-generation roadster's reduction in power output. The new model only puts out 155 horsepower, down from 167 in the NC. A report from Australia, though, claims Mazda may yet address the less potent output of the ND. Things started earlier this year, as Motoring.com.au tells it, when Mazda's global PR boss, Kudo Hidetoshi, hinted that a turbocharged or Mazdaspeed model "will definitely" be considered. Then last month at Goodwood, the ND's program manager, Nobuhiro Yamamoto, said complainers were welcome to get their thrills elsewhere. Recognizing this contradiction among Mazda's brass, Motoring asked Yamamoto-san again about his statements, which he seemed to walk back. "It's not a conflict [between statements made by Yamamoto and Hidetoshi]," Yamamoto said, indicating that his statements were made in relation to the new MX-5's launch. "Kudo-san talked about this in terms of a 10-year lifespan, but when I was asked the question right after the launching of the ND, I said 'we have no plan to have a turbo at that point in time.' That is what I meant." Seeking an opening, Motoring pushed the Japanese engineer on the chances of a more potent MX-5, perhaps without a turbocharger. "If you could achieve what we want, to which is great response, very light and powerful with great performance feel with natural aspiration, then we don't need a turbo," Yamamoto said. "But if we want more power because we don't get satisfied with natural aspiration then we may think about the turbo." Related Video: