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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

Choose your own adventure in Audi's next Super Bowl commercial

Audi has a 60-second spot planned for this year's Super Bowl to promote its S6 sedan, but exactly which spot will air is being put in the hands of Internet users. The ad follows a high schooler as he "embarks on one of the most pivotal moments of his adolescence: prom night." The spot is fixed up to the pivotal moment when he steals a kiss from the prom queen. From that moment, there are three possible endings.
Today, up until 11:59 pm, Audi is running three different versions on its YouTube channel and you can vote on which ending you'd like to see during The Big Game. The winning spot will run on YouTube before the game and then run in the first ad break after kickoff during the Super Bowl. Coca-Cola is running a similar interactive campaign, although its potential endings will involve cowboys, showgirls and a post-Apocalyptic badass, none of which we expect to make it into Audi's prom night spot. Scroll below to view all three alternate ending videos and cast your vote.

Audi A3 E-Tron is a look at battery-operated things to come

Audi officially unveiled the A3 Sportback E-Tron at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. While not a production model, the plug-in hybrid gives us a good glimpse at what the German automaker has in store for future products. The five-door gets around thanks to parallel hybrid drivetrain comprised of a turbocharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine and a small electric motor integrated into the vehicle's six-speed dual-clutch transmission. While the four-cylinder churns up 150 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque, the motor contributes 100 horsepower and 242 lb-ft of twist. All told, the design allows the E-Tron to serve up its full power from just 1,750 rpm.
An 8.8-kWh lithium-ion battery sits under the floor beneath the rear seat, complete with a liquid cooling system designed to keep the pack in its optimum temperature range. The A3 Sportback E-Tron can be charged in as little as 2.5 hours with a 3.6-kW charger, yielding an EV range of up to 31 miles. The machine can also travel using the electric motor, ICE or a combination of the two for a total range of 584 miles. Check out the full press release below.