Consumer Electronics (Auto) Show

Consumer Electronics (Auto) Show

As vehicles are transformed more by their software than their hardware and become more electronic devices than machines, the Consumer Electronics Show becomes an increasingly important part of the automotive promotion cycle every year.

The debate around whether the massive CES event would dethrone North American auto shows has raged between the tech and auto news outlets. However, it looks like we have an appetite for both types of events. pcmag.com

Honda, BMW, Hyundai, Porsche, Scout and many other brands were at the show this year. caranddriver.com, gizmodo.com, mashable.com, autotrader.ca

Conspicuous by their absence were the American brands Ford, General Motors, and Tesla, opting to sit this one out. techcrunch.com

Whether they show up or not, vehicles and the companies that make them increasingly “steal the show.” finance.yahoo.com

Aptera’s solar three-wheeler made an appearance, finally claiming to be production-ready. electrek.co, youtube.com

But Aptera has been kicking this vehicle around for years and has struggled financially. It would be fantastic if they pulled it all together.

Check out this Aptera ride-along video from Jay Leno’s Garage in 2021. youtube.com

BMW spent what must have been an inordinately large amount of money on their celebrity line-up that included Tim Meadows and Ken Jeong. Both comedians turned actors made jokes about how much they were paid for the event. All of the expense and fanfare was to announce BMW’s new Panoramic iDrive screens and heads-up display. youtube.com

Not to be outdone by BMW, Hyundai also presented a new holographic heads-up display technology courtesy of their team at Mobis. t3.com

Suzuki showed up with an “autonomous electric platform that specializes in work mobility,” a funky EV skateboard and a compact electric pick-up that you can’t buy. globalsuzuki.com/ces2025, interestingengineering.com

Scout Motors, years away from delivering a vehicle, confirmed their in-vehicle satellite connectivity news and showed off their software capabilities. carbuzz.com

Oshkosh, the company that makes the duck-nosed USPS delivery truck, brought a combo of their hard-working EVs to the show. oshkoshcorp.com

Oshkosh may be looking to drum up other business as fears of Trump ending their USPS contract persist. venturebeat.com

Zeekr’s appearance at CES did what most Chinese brands are doing these days, scared the shit out of everyone else with their advanced product development. They announced their new intelligent driving domain controller, which uses Nvidia’s DRIVE AGX Thor technology. They previewed the vehicle they are building for Waymo. And they talked about the impressive progress they’ve made on EV fast charging. motortrend.com

Xpeng brought their combo eVTOL and van to the show for an American audience to gawk at. techcrunch.com

It wasn’t all flying cars and big screens at CES.

Royal Enfield showed off their fancy new electric motorcycle, the Flying Flea. autoevolution.com

California startup AC Future showed off their stunning, transforming, and expanding RV trailer called the eTH (Electric Transformer House). newatlas.com

Arguably, Honda stole the show this year, dominating tech and automotive news this week with a preview of their latest iterations of the Honda 0 Saloon (which was unveiled last year) and the Honda 0 SUV (which looks absolutely stunning). insideevs.com, theverge.com

Sony and Honda’s joint venture, Afeela, is gearing up for production. They announced their vehicle would launch with a starting price of $89,900 USD and will only be available in California initially. theverge.com

On a side note, and adding to the confusion and irony around Honda’s EV strategy, Autoblog poked at General Motors and Honda with this article about how the best-selling EV that GM manufactures is the one they make for Honda. autoblog.com

China’s Automotive Expansion

BYD’s YangWang has released a video of its U9 sports car making small jumps over obstacles using its Disus X suspension. carscoops.com

BYD will launch the Atto 2 compact SUV in Europe in February. reuters.com

Chery’s Fulwin T8 PHEV gets over 2,000 km of combined range and starts at around $15,000 USD. carnewschina.com

Leapmotor launches C10 EREV in Europe. cnevpost.com

Sophia Tung shared a fascinating video about her experiences using self-driving robotaxis in China. youtube.com

Must Know Musk News

'When the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was asked in an interview about the barrage of insults being directed at him and other German leaders by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, his reply was: “Don’t feed the troll.”‘ ‘“theguardian.com

The updated Tesla Model Y was formally announced and is already available for sale in China. theverge.com

Some potential Canadian EV buyers are no longer interested in buying from Tesla. theglobeandmail.com

Tesla has a rearview camera problem. theverge.com

Rise Of The Machines

The SwitchBot K20+ Pro is an autonomous vacuum robot that integrates with different accessories and moves them around your home. spectrum.ieee.org

CNET got a hands-on demo of the Unitree G1 robot at CES. youtube.com

The Nékojita FuFu is a little cat-like bot that mounts on a mug or bowl, blowing air to help cool off your hot food or beverages. techcrunch.com

The Realbotix’s Aria robot is weird, overly sexualized and kinda creepy. youtube.com, realbotix.com

German Bionic has built the world’s most powerful robot exoskeleton. interestingengineering.com

This robot vacuum has a retractable arm that will pick up your dirty socks so it can continue sucking up your mess off your filthy floors. techcrunch.com

Energy

ICYMI: Texas produces more clean renewable energy than any other US state. reuters.com

Stocks of Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems and Danish wind developer Orsted fell about 7% on Wednesday in the wake of The Donald saying, “We’re going to try and have a policy where no windmills are being built.” (I wonder if he’s mentioned this to Texas yet?) cnbc.com

Germany’s energy mix passed a milestone in 2024, with renewables generating up to 59% of the country’s electricity. euronews.com

Scotland will become the home of Europe's three largest battery energy storage systems, built on top of an old coal mine. ca.news.yahoo.com

But Wait, There’s More

Ford revealed a special edition of its $325,000 Mustang GTD called the “Spirit of America.” cnbc.com

The Ford Ranger was named the North American Truck of the Year. automotiveworld.com

The Honda Civic Hybrid earns North American Car of the Year. driving.ca

VW’s ID. Buzz beats out incumbents to win North American Utility Vehicle of the Year. gmauthority.com

Canada’s federally funded EV incentives will end when the program’s budget is exhausted. autonews.com

Why are Honda and Nissan merging? Honda executives are interested in Nissan’s big SUVs for future hybrids. theverge.com

Stellantis plans to suck less in 2025. cnbc.com

Hyundai launches $18,000 EV in Japan. reuters.com

Like that pile of bits left over when you assemble IKEA furniture, KIA forgot to screw some bolts into some of their EVs. mashable.com

Faraday Future is back from the dead. engadget.com

Mercedes gains access to Tesla Superchargers in February. autonews.com

Uber and Lyft partner with Waymo to extend robotaxi adoption. wsj.com

This poor dude got stuck in a Waymo that kept circling around (and around). techcrunch.com, reddit.com

You read to the bottom. Amazing! You’re a good person.