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Amazon is showcasing its big push into cars and transportation at CES

From making cars talk using Alexa's voice to managing data from factories full of robots, Amazon wants a big piece of the action in transportation, and next week at CES will unveil more about its strategy to achieve that goal than ever before. The Seattle retail and cloud services powerhouse plans to use the annual technology show in Las Vegas to unveil its plan to be a major player in self-driving vehicle technology, connected cars, electric vehicles and management of the torrents of data generated by automakers and drivers, company executives told Reuters. Amazon Web Services, which provides large-scale cloud computing and data management services, is central to Amazon's strategy. "We really are extending ourselves more and more out in the ecosystem from manufacturing to connected car," Jon Allen, head of professional services in Amazon Web Services' automotive practice, said in a telephone interview. "The takeaway message on this is if you go to CES this year we really are taking it as a 'One Amazon' view." Until now, Amazon has shown its transportation strategy to investors — and rivals — one piece at a time. Amazon has invested in self-driving software startup Aurora. It also has signed deals with automakers to deliver packages to vehicle trunks, help develop electric vehicle charging networks and use AWS to network their factories. The Seattle company will share the CES stage with partners such as virtual reality firm ZeroLight, electric vehicle startup Rivian, Canada's BlackBerry Ltd and video game software development company Unity Technologies. "It's our attempt to weave everything together in a single experience for our customers," Dean Phillips, AWS' automotive technical leader, told Reuters. "Customers don't distinguish AWS from Alexa from Amazon.com. It's Amazon."   Related: As GM readies Alexa convenience for vehicles, we ponder its dark side   At CES, ZeroLight and GM's Cadillac will demonstrate how they are partnering to develop an online vehicle configuration experience that will allow high-fidelity images of vehicles that consumers build online to be taken with them on visits to dealers, Phillips said. The process can open the door to dealers better meeting customer needs by knowing what users focused on when building their dream car. It has already boosted profit per vehicle at Volkswagen's Audi brand by an estimated 1,200 euros ($1,340), he said.

Chrysler 300C John Varvatos Limited Edition returns for 2014 with AWD option

Before last year, many of us car guys had no idea who John Varvatos was. That all changed when the Detroit-native fashion designer lent his talents to the Chrysler 300 to create the snazzy, special-edition 300C John Varvatos models. The fashionable sedan returns for 2014 with two versions (Luxury and Limited), and the only big news here is that the latter model will be getting an optional all-wheel-drive system.
Distinguishing the Luxury and Limited models, the Luxury comes with Platinum exterior accents and is offered in a handful of colors while the Limited gets darker Titanium accents and only comes with a Phantom Black Tri-Coat paint job. Both cars get an exclusive interior design with special leathers, patterns and colors worthy of the designer's name and logo. The JV Edition is the only 300C to offer a V6 engine, but V8 lovers can still opt up for the powerful Hemi engine.
It would appear that the Luxury Edition is already on sale, but you'll have to wait until March for the 2014 JV Limited Edition, which, according to a Chrysler spokesperson, will be "limited from a production timing standpoint." The JV Luxury Edition starts at $41,195 and the Limited Edition will have a starting price of $44,480 (*not including $995 for destination) - both cars can be optioned with all-wheel drive for $2,500. Scroll down for the press release on the 300C John Varvatos Limited Edition.

Autoblog's Editors' Picks: Our complete list of the best new vehicles

It's not easy to earn an “EditorsÂ’ Picks” at Autoblog as part of the rating and review process that every new vehicle goes through. Our editors have been at it a long time, which means weÂ’ve driven and reviewed virtually every new car you can go buy on the dealer lot. There are disagreements, of course, and all vehicles have their strengths and weaknesses, but this list features what we think are the best new vehicles chosen by Autoblog editors. We started this formal review process back in 2018, so there's quite of few of them now. So what does it mean to be an EditorsÂ’ Pick? In short, it means itÂ’s a car that we can highly recommend purchasing. There may be one, multiple, or even zero vehicles in any given segment that we give the green light to. What really matters is that itÂ’s a vehicle that weÂ’d tell a friend or family member to go buy if theyÂ’re considering it, because itÂ’s a very good car. The best way to use this list is is with the navigation links below. Click on a segment, and you'll quickly arrive at the top rated pickup truck or SUV, for example. Use the back button to return to these links and search in another segment, like sedans. If youÂ’ve been keeping up with our monthly series of the latest vehicles to earn EditorsÂ’ Pick status, youÂ’re likely going to be familiar with this list already. If not, welcome to the complete list that weÂ’ll be keeping updated as vehicles enter (and others perhaps exit) the good graces of our editorial team. We rate a new car — giving it a numerical score out of 10 — every time thereÂ’s a significant refresh or if it happens to be an all-new model. Any given vehicle may be impressive on a first drive, but we wait until itÂ’s in the hands of our editors to put it through the same type of testing as every other vehicle that rolls through our test fleet before giving it the EditorsÂ’ Pick badge. This ensures consistency and allows more voices to be heard on each individual model. And just so you donÂ’t think weÂ’ve skipped trims or variants of a model, we hand out the EditorsÂ’ Pick based on the overarching model to keep things consistent. So, when you read that the 3 Series is an EditorsÂ’ Pick, yes, that includes the 330i to the M3 and all the variants in between. If thereÂ’s a particular version of that car we vehemently disagree with, we make sure to call that out.