Innovative Innovation

Among the many new automotive design and features designed to lure buyers — here are some favorites.

The Ford Fusion is a stunningly designed mid-sized sedan with an Aston Martin inspired front grille that certainly adds drama. This bit of shared super-car DNA is a residual benefit of Ford’s former ownership.

While navigation systems have become common in many new cars, with the advent of mapping equipped smart phones there is an obvious redundancy. Chevy Spark mini-car comes set-up with the BringGo system that displays smartphone navigation in the car’s center console screen.

The foot activated lift gate on the Ford Escape is an interesting convenience feature, thought it does require good balance as you stand on one foot, presumably holding an armload of groceries, waving your other foot under the lift gate. It sounds silly but it actually works really well!

After years of advances in collision avoidance and blind spot elimination technology, a new Honda Accord offers the simplest solution. Click the turn signal to the right and a video display of that side of the vehicle appears in the big center console screen!