Carmakers find a captive audience for entertainment

Iria · Jan 9, 2006, 01:21 AM

DETROIT (Reuters) - Get in the driver's seat. Adjust the rearview mirror. Boot up the XBox 360.

To some young drivers, a car that's also a video-game system may sound like a dream come true -- or so Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. hopes with a new concept car aimed at gamers.

Nissan's Urge sports car, introduced at the North American International Auto Show here this week, is a prototype where the steering wheel and pedals become game controllers when the car is still. The mirror conceals a small flip-down screen. The dashboard conceals a Microsoft Corp. game console.

The Urge may be one of the more extreme examples of a trend to introduce more entertainment features to help differentiate a vehicle in a crowded marketplace, especially to a generation used to mobile phones and portable music players like iPods.

To serve those plugged-in drivers, more car makers are turning their vehicles into entertainment centers. High-end features, like navigation systems and backseat video monitors, can add as much as $2,200 to the cost of a car, according to J.D. Power and Associates.

Such features performed well in a study rating consumers' awareness and willingness to purchase, and car makers are aggressively promoting cars as entertainment centers.
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Source: Reuters

Jan 9, 2006, 01:21 AM	#1
Iria DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,275 Rep Power: 89	Carmakers find a captive audience for entertainment DETROIT (Reuters) - Get in the driver's seat. Adjust the rearview mirror. Boot up the XBox 360. To some young drivers, a car that's also a video-game system may sound like a dream come true -- or so Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. hopes with a new concept car aimed at gamers. Nissan's Urge sports car, introduced at the North American International Auto Show here this week, is a prototype where the steering wheel and pedals become game controllers when the car is still. The mirror conceals a small flip-down screen. The dashboard conceals a Microsoft Corp. game console. The Urge may be one of the more extreme examples of a trend to introduce more entertainment features to help differentiate a vehicle in a crowded marketplace, especially to a generation used to mobile phones and portable music players like iPods. To serve those plugged-in drivers, more car makers are turning their vehicles into entertainment centers. High-end features, like navigation systems and backseat video monitors, can add as much as $2,200 to the cost of a car, according to J.D. Power and Associates. Such features performed well in a study rating consumers' awareness and willingness to purchase, and car makers are aggressively promoting cars as entertainment centers. __________ Source: Reuters