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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

Former Ford president, Jaguar chairman Nick Scheele dead at 70

We have the privilege here at Autoblog of reporting a lot of good news, but it is our duty as well to report the bad news and sad news as well. And this is one of those occasions as the automotive industry mourns the passing of one of its leaders.
Nick Scheele was born in the UK in 1944 and joined the Ford Motor Company upon graduating from the University of Durham in 1966, staying within the Blue Oval's portfolio for the entirety of his career. After moving to North America in 1978, he rose through the ranks to become president of Ford's Mexican operations in 1988. After acquiring Jaguar, Ford appointed Scheele as its chairman.
Scheele subsequently acted as chairman of all of Ford's European operations, making difficult decisions to take the division out of the red and into the black. He briefly headed up Ford's North American division before he was appointed in 2001 as president and chief operating officer of the global automaker, working under CEO Bill Ford following the departure of Jacques Nasser departure and retaining the role until his retirement in 2005.

Ford confirms launch of new Tourneo vans and Ecosport in Europe for Geneva

We've already seen plenty of what the Geneva Motor Show will have in store for us in less than two weeks, but most of the confirmed debuts that were announced so far have generally been luxury or performance cars. Ford, on the other hand, will be showing off a couple of its new family-friendly models for European buyers to enjoy.
On the larger side of things, the full range of Tourneo vans (shown above) will be on display, including the introduction of the new Tourneo Courier model, but Ford will also be showing off the all-new EcoSport crossover, which is based on the automaker's Global B platform and will be positioned beneath the Kuga, better known here as the Escape. The subcompact EcoSport was originally unveiled at the Beijing Motor Show last April.