Hasta La Gadget!

That lower-cost Nissan Leaf we heard about? It just got a sticker price. Savvy car buyers will be able to kick off their haggling at $28,800, the Leaf S’ MSRP. Don’t expect the price war to last long though — dealers will waste no time leveraging relevant tax credits, which in California, can dip the car’s price as low as $18,800. The price reduction hits the entire line, too — pricing the Leaf SV and SL at $31,820 and $34,840, respectfully. Nissan attributes the savings to local construction, dodging foreign currency fluctuations by building the vehicles in its existing Tennessee facilities. The move puts the Leaf a little closer to competing with its gas-guzzling cousins, and goes a long way to placate EV buyers put off by the car’s 2012 price hike. Still too pricy? Don’t worry — Nissan promises that you can still lease it, too. Read on for the official press release.

Continue reading Nissan knocks $6,400 off Leaf sticker price, sells S model for $28,800

Filed under: Transportation

Comments

Via: Autoblog

The folks at three of the biggest names in auto and/or audio have come together this month to bring on a beast of a system for the Audi Q7 for 2013. Bang & Olufsen have partnered with Audi as well as Fraunhofer IIS to bring on a “3D sound experience” for the next generation of Audi vehicles. Fraunhofer IIS, if you did not know, was the “main” inventor (as they say) of the MP3 and is an innovator of next-level audio experiences top to bottom – as any average Joe would tell you.

The Audi Q7 Concept Car brings this experience on to the universe riding high on the success of the reintroduction of the 3D movie experience here in the 21st century. While 3D movies and the technology behind that visual experience is limited to the movie theater and the home theater with special visual enhancing goggles and the like, the 3D audio experience is ready, here and now, for the high-powered automotive world.

“Bang & Olufsen Audio Systems for cars are widely renowned for their unique ability to turn a car interior into a real high-end listening room, and with the addition of the 3D sound algorithm and associated speaker units and amplifiers in this Audi Q7 Concept Car, we add a new important emotional dimension into the listening experience. Extending beyond the small confined space of the vehicle cabin, the available sound experience now ranges all the way from a very big and open sense of space to the purist setting such as a control room of a recording studio.” – Bjarne Sørensen, Senior Manager Car Concept Creation and Communication

Using the Audi Multi Media Interface you’re able to work with the vehicle’s 3D sound system, able to, as Harald Popp, head of the Multimedia Realtime Systems department of Fraunhofer IIS notes, “dissolves the geometry of the car.” Inside this vehicle you’ll find an amount of speakers placed to perfection that you’ll have never before experienced:

• Two loudspeakers in the dashboard center (tweeter and broadband)
• Two tweeters in the dashboard (left/right) with acoustic lens
technology
• One mid-high loudspeaker in each A pillar
• One tweeter in each A pillar
• Two loudspeakers in each front door with a woofer and a midrange
• Three loudspeakers in each rear door with a woofer, midrange and a
tweeter
• Two surround loudspeakers in each D pillar, consisting of a tweeter
and broadband
• One closed subwoofer box in the spare wheel compartment

This experience is such that a user will want to head out to their vehicle to listen to a new album simply to feel completely engulfed in sound. They won’t even feel the need to drive the car – no need for your own home studio anymore! Welcome to the next level – that’s what this team is saying to you, the future Audi owner.

We’ve yet to see this system in a real market-ready auto, but we’re expecting this perfectly tuned and placed system to hit real vehicles some time in 2013 – that’s just an assumption, mind you, but judging by this presentation, they’re ready for action. Have a peek at our Car hub for more information on the power present in the automotive industry today, especially in the technological breakthroughs of tomorrow!

Audi, Bang & Olufsen, Fraunhofer IIS team up for 3D auto experience is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Leaf is quickly becoming a mainstay of the American EV scene. Nissan is very much determined to keep it that way: it’s starting US production of the 2013 model year with sizable upgrades to fend off the likes of the Focus Electric. The refresh includes a lower-cost (if currently priceless) S model as well as an optional 6.6kW charger (standard on higher trim levels) that should top up the car’s battery in about four hours — almost twice as fast as the original, and more in line with newer alternatives. Nissan is also teasing us with more driving range, although it has yet to pin down just how much further we’ll travel. In-cabin tech receives its own upgrade through both Google Places searches for local points of interest as well as an eco-friendly routing mode. We might glean more details of the 2013 Leaf’s launch when the North American International Auto Show kicks off next week; for now, we’ll have to make do with Nissan’s technical details after the break.

Continue reading Nissan starts US production of 2013 Leaf, vows faster charging and a lower entry price

Filed under: Transportation

Comments

Via: Autoblog

Source: Nissan

This week the folks at Harman have pushed their Aha system to several vehicle communications systems including Porsche, this system being the one we’re having a peek at today. Porsche’s Communication Management System is shown here working with the newly announced Aha integrated with vehicle systems. Here we’re seeing the full 30,000 Aha internet-based stations in action, everything from internet radio to Facebook integration.

While you’re about to see this system working tethered to an iPhone 5, you’ll also be able to use it with Android. What you’re doing here is not just using your smartphone’s app to make this whole system work, you’re tethering with your smartphone for internet as well. This way you’ll only have the one internet bill rather than needing to work with another bill for your vehicle – well played.

Aha’s system allows for the display of Facebook and Twitter statuses and also allows you to interact with your friends on both of those systems in a relatively basic way. You’ll be able to get news updates and tap through to hear podcasts galore as well. This system is an extremely simple extension of the Aha app and ecosystem in a perfectly simple-to-work user interface via Porsche’s Communication Management System.

This system will be available to everyone using a vehicle equipped with the Porsche Communication Management System immediately if not soon, and Aha is pushing to several other similar car systems this week as well – Ford and Chrysler amongst them. In the near future, Aha will be integrating with Subaru, Honda, and Acura too.

Have a peek at our Porsche tag to see all the fabulous red hot vehicle action through our archives, our gigantic Car portal for vehicles of all kinds, and also be sure to catch up with everything CES 2013 through the rest of the week in our CES hub!

Porsche Communication Management System with Harman’s Aha hands-on is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Texas Instruments has already shown off some new DLP technology here at CES, shrinking it down and shoving it into phones packed with pico projectors. It’s not done, however, as TI has plans to put DLP into next-gen car infotainment and HUD systems. Why the shift into automotive? Well, TI already makes infrared cameras, sensors and other components for cars, and because infotainment systems are becoming de rigeur, DLP based systems are the next logical move for the company. TI thinks DLP is a perfect fit for cars because it delivers higher brightness, wider field of view and better color reproduction than competing display technologies, and it can be used in curved displays. Plus, DLP-based HUD displays can be optimally positioned and changed in size on the fly based on drivers seating positions.

To power those systems, TI has also announced a new OMAP 5 chip codenamed Jacinto 6 tailor made for automotive applications. It’s got two Cortex A15 cores, two Cortex M4 cores and PowerVR SGX-544 graphics to provide ample computing power and electrical efficiency. We won’t be seeing DLP in-dash systems in showrooms anytime soon — Jacinto 6 won’t go into production until 2014 — but TI has brought a few concept systems to CES, and you can see one of them in a demo video after the break. Oh, and we’ll be bringing you an in-person look at TI’s wares from the show floor later this week, so stay tuned.

Continue reading Texas Instruments reveals plans for DLP and OMAP-powered automotive infotainment and HUD systems

Filed under: Transportation

Comments