2009: The Year Of Hi-Tech Turn-Ons - New Year To Be Dominated By In-Car Technology According To Motoring Website
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HARROGATE, United Kingdom – January 5, 2008: A car that parks itself and wakes you up if you nod off at the wheel may once have been the stuff of dreams for car buyers but, according to motoring website motors.co.uk, they will be top of the list for discerning car buyers in 2009.
The New Year will see the launch of a glut of greener, technology laden cars with features such as self parking systems, intelligent cruise control and hybrid engines to attract car buyers.
Gadget fans and nervous parkers will love the new range of self parking cars such as the new VW Golf being rolled out in 2009. Not content with front, side and rear parking sensors these cars use sophisticated technology that ‘takes over’ parking from the driver, automatically turning the steering wheel to the right positions leaving the driver in charge of the braking and throttle.
The New Year will also see more cars fitted with blind spot alerts for safer lane changing, intelligent cruise control systems that maintain the correct distance from the vehicle in front and lane departure warning systems to rouse sleepy drivers, such as in the Citroen C5.
For the ultimate gadget fans, researchers in Germany are developing a new in-car technology that determines the exact speed drivers need to maintain to pass through traffic lights on green. Katie Armitage, Marketing Manager for motors.co.uk said:
“Despite the economic climate, many manufacturers are competing to offer the most attractive, gadget-laden models and 2009 could be the year in-car technology becomes more widespread and sophisticated.
“The Motors.co.uk network of websites attracts over 2.7 million visitors every month and, during the last year we ran regular surveys to find out which issues concerned the British motoring public the most. The findings from more than four separate surveys have found that in-car gadgets have sparked more heated debates than any other topic and with increasing amounts of in-car technology being launched this year the arguments look set to continue.”
With the credit crunch beginning to bite, motorists will also continue to look to green technology in 2009. This will include stop-start engines where cars automatically turn off their engines in a queue, to conserve fuel and reduce CO2 emissions.
2009 will also be the year of hybrid (petrol-electric) engines with cars such as the Honda Insight providing drivers with the benefits of improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions.
The motors.co.uk network, which launched in January 2007, is now visited by over 2.7 million car buyers every month. It features nearly 200,000 used cars for sale from car retailers, traders and private sellers across the UK and provides advice and guidance covering every part of the car buying process, to help motorists make informed choices about their next car.
Motors.co.uk’s top five in-car innovations to look forward to in 2009 are: