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Ram burnished its 2022 lineup with the new Uconnect 5 infotainment system that puts an emphasis on personalization for passengers.

But the added bells and whistles came with a cost for the truck brand in the latest J.D. Power Initial Quality Study.

Ram dropped from first place in the 2021 rankings to No. 18 this year after being dinged in the infotainment category that has perplexed many automakers in the era of touch screens and voice controls. J.D. Power said it was the largest fall ever for a brand that led the industry the previous year.

Infotainment hiccups slammed other manufacturers as well in 2022, accounting for six of the top 10 problem areas in the J.D. Power study. Consumers complained about Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity, built-in voice recognition, difficulties with touch screens and other display screens, and built-in Bluetooth systems.

David Amodeo, J.D. Power's director of global automotive, said Ram is experiencing…

Volkswagen may be cutting cars from its American lineup, but a new full-electric sedan, the ID Aero, is headed to the U.S., likely after it launches in China and Europe.

VW showed a near-production concept of the midsize sedan in China last week, ahead of a planned sales launch in 2023. It will be built in Germany and China, where cars remain popular and key entry points for many brands.

The ID Aero uses the same MEB platform as other VW Group full-electric vehicles.

The aerodynamically optimized body has a low drag coefficient, 0.23, VW said. The exterior design includes illuminated touch surfaces in place of door handles, and a sloping roof, giving it a fastback look.

The concept is "a pretty accurate preview of the car to come," said Stephan Wöllenstein, CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars in China.

The aerodynamic shape will help give the production version a range of up to 385 miles from a 77-kilowatt-hour battery, based on the Worldwide…

The next-generation Ford Ranger will feature an extended wheelbase variant, according to spy photographers. Images of the midsize pickup, set to debut in the U.S. in 2023, have been captured in Dearborn, Mich., showing what appears to be a longer bed than the current model's 5-foot bed. The Ranger, the No. 2 seller among midsize pickups in the U.S. last year, fell to fifth place in the first quarter. Ford unveiled the overseas version of the next-generation Ranger late last year, but it has not revealed the version that will be sold in North America. It plans to continue building the Ranger for North American buyers at its Michigan Assembly Plant.

TechForce, an Arizona-based nonprofit dedicated to boosting the ranks of technicians in all industries, interviewed dozens of female automotive technicians in the spring. TechForce wanted to find out what challenges face women who fix cars for a living and how new-vehicle dealers, body shops and garages can do a better job recruiting and retaining female technicians. Just 2.5 percent of the technicians in the transportation industry are women, says Dana Rapoport, 55, who is in charge of diversity and inclusion for TechForce. She spoke with Staff Reporter Richard Truett. Here are edited excerpts.

Q: The TechForce report on female technicians working at new-car dealerships didn't gloss over the negative experiences women often face. Were the interviews with female techs surprising?

A: So much of [female techs'] situation depended on how their employer set them up for success. We saw some employers that weren't as welcoming and gracious. Then there were stores wh…

The FTC wants to hear from you, the dealers at home

Citing repeated complaints from consumers, the Federal Trade Commission last month proposed 14 pages of new regulatory language targeting car dealership bait-and-switch advertising and certain finance and insurance business practices.

The pejorative language and prospect for additional regulatory obligations was not appreciated by the National Automobile Dealers Association.

"The FTC's proposed rule would impose a vast array of new, completely unwarranted, redundant and ineffectual requirements that will cause great harm to consumers by increasing prices, extending transaction times, and making the customer experience much more complex and inefficient," NADA CEO Mike Stanton said in a statement Thursday.

It seems unlikely the agency will accept this argument and retreat.

The FTC said in its notice of rulemaking June 27 it received more than 100,000 complaints each of the past three years…

Elon Musk and four of his sons met with Pope Francis at the Vatican last week and the Tesla Inc. CEO then broke 10 days of silence on Twitter to share a photo of the audience.

Musk, the world's richest individual, who is in the midst of a $44 billion takeover of Twitter Inc., wrote Friday: "Honored to meet @Pontifex yesterday."

The Vatican did not issue a public statement about the meeting, according to The Associated Press. Pope Francis often meets with corporate leaders to urge them to use their wealth and technology to aid the poor, the AP reported.

Over the years, the Holy See has made public appearances with auto executives to take delivery of popemobiles. Last year Pope Francis met with Fisker Inc. CEO Henrik Fisker to see the design for an all-electric papal vehicle. Fisker said it will covert its all-electric Ocean SUV for use by the pope, providing a retractable glass cupola and sustainable interior materials, such as the carpets.

Pope …

A quarter of the way through the '20s, it seemed like a good time to step back and look at the efforts to shift the U.S. auto industry to half zero-emission vehicles by 2030.

At this stage of the road trip, the team at Automotive News took a company-by-company look at the transition to electric vehicles as well as key government efforts on the matter. Check out the coverage on Pages 16-21.

The destination is pretty clear: Replacing millions of gasoline-burning vehicles with battery-powered ones every year. If half of the market is electric, it will be a big proof point that the industry is doing its part to address global warming and leave a livable planet for future generations. (Reducing pollution in the manufacturing process is also important, but separate, and harder to measure.)

EV share needs to grow tenfold by the end of the decade, and challenges abound: cost, quality, charging infrastructure.

Mining and mineral refining operations — suc…

Advanced driver-assistance systems are touted as today's answer to road safety. The technology is mandated across Europe, as "technical progress in the area of advanced vehicle safety systems [like ADAS] offers new possibilities for reducing [pedestrian and driver] casualty numbers." Meanwhile, regulators in the U.S. plan to address road safety issues with similar advances that prevent distracted driving in privately owned vehicles.

Such regulation could be met with resistance from the average driver. A report assessing drivers' attitudes toward advanced driver-assistance systems found that 70 percent of drivers disable "bothersome" lane-keeping assist and lane-centering systems. Furthermore, a staggering 84 percent of drivers feel that driver-assistance features don't promote safe driving at all and could actually lead to a preventable collision.

Though regulators understand the potential of this technology, drivers haven't bought in — yet. I…

After 11 years of running our 40 Under 40 recognition program honoring talented young people working in dealerships — and asking them about their early careers — we had some questions of a different sort.

What are they seeking from their employers in the area of professional development? What factors are most important to them in creating job satisfaction? How important is diversity, equity and inclusion to them and their employers?

And how good is the auto retail sector in general in laying out defined career paths and offering professional development opportunities for younger employees working in dealerships?

We'll be writing about our findings in the next week and talking about these topics Wednesday, July 6, with a couple of past 40 Under 40 honorees in a LinkedIn Live session in advance of next week's announcement of the 2022 honorees.

The vast majority of respondents to our survey so far are still working in dealerships.

And most o…