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Tesla poaches Volvo interior engineering boss Anders Bell

Tesla is the belle of both the eco-friendly and luxury balls. The company's Model S and Model X are status symbols, and benchmarks for the ability to blend both green credentials with performance and a luxury driving experience. That said, their cabins aren't necessarily deserving of those credentials. That's why this little news nugget is such a big deal for the California brand. Electrek reports that Tesla has poached Anders Bell from Volvo. Bell confirmed the move via his LinkedIn page. The (now former) head of interior engineering and senior director of engineering was responsible for the Swedish brand's raft of high-quality, beautifully crafted cabins. Doubtless Tesla wants a piece of the critical acclaim Volvo's received for the interior design and quality on its 90-series models – XC90, S90, and V90. The move is, at least based on Electrek's stalking of Bell's LinkedIn profile, a big loss for Volvo. Bell joined the Swedish brand fresh out of Halmstad College's engineering program in 1998 and has spent his entire career working for Gothenburg and its various owners. That included a nearly four-year stint in China after Geely bought Volvo from Ford, assisting with the Chinese launch of the XC60. Bell's listed his final project with his previous employer as "development, design, and release of Volvo interiors to be launched 2017-2018 and concept definitions of interiors 2019 and beyond." That means that while Bell started at Palo Alto this month, his impact at Volvo won't fade for several more years. Related Video: News Source: Electrek via Jalopnik Green Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Tesla Volvo volvo s90

Ford tumbles to second worst in Consumer Reports reliability survey, list dominated by Japanese [w/video]

It's no secret that MyFord Touch has had its share of problems since being introduced, but the most recent reliability survey from Consumer Reports shows just how much this infotainment system has affected Ford. Just two years ago, the automaker was in the top 10 for the institute's reliability rankings, but since then, it has tumbled to the second-lowest rung just above dead-last Jaguar. In addition to MyFord Touch, CR also attributes a handful of new products that have had issues right out of the gate.
Compiled from 1.2 million subscriber surveys, this year's auto reliability survey heavily favors Japanese automakers, with eight of the 10 spots hailing from Japan. Toyota brands grabbed the top three spots (Scion, Toyota and Lexus - in that order) with Mazda, Subaru, Honda and Acura filling the next four spots. The only non-Asian automaker cracking the top 10 was Audi at number eight.
Audi climbed a total of 18 spots from last year, and Cadillac and GMC round out this year's top gainers breaking into the top 15. Helping Cadillac's upward movement, the CTS Coupe was named the most reliable domestic car. Lincoln, Volvo and Chrysler join Ford on this year's biggest loser list.

2022 Volvo C40 Recharge Interior Review | Stylish, spartan and Google tech

The 2022 C40 Recharge is an all-electric, all-or-nothing proposition from those delightfully stylish Swedes over at Volvo, whose designers put their typical minimalistic spin on this crossover-coupe EV. While Zac was a bit more fond of the all-blue interior in our tester than I was (you can also get it in black), I was at least equally as impressed as he was by its new tech suite. The "you can get it any way so long as it's loaded" American-market C40 arrived sporting the latest version of Google’s Android Automotive OS infotainment system (like other Volvos). In what may be the most stereotypical display of Silicon Valley chicanery I've seen so far in 2022, this new infotainment system doesnÂ’t support Apple CarPlay at launch, so it was almost poetic when the iPhone I used to shoot the above video fought me tooth-and-nail when I tried to share it via Google Drive. Relax, iPhoners. Volvo says an OTA update with CarPlay support is coming. But let's face it, when it comes to maps, Google is Google, and since you get it natively here, it works exactly the way you'd expect it to. Google Assistant is there to handle your voice commands too. There's even ample room in the rear for a future Google Bathroom Attendant, should you feel that you're just not getting quite enough Google in your diet.  If you've driven a recent Volvo, the infotainment system will probably look familiar to you. Despite the architectural overhaul and obvious Google ecosystem UI elements, it still feels like a Volvo system. I suppose that could be either good or bad, depending on how you feel about Volvo's user experience, which tends to eschew menu-diving in favor of pretty much putting every possible feature on the screen at the exact same time. That may sound overwhelming, but there's an organizational method to this pixelated madness.  Google's approach uses a simple scroll when you run out of home screen (yes, like a smartphone) and has collapsing drop-downs in the app menu for categories with more icons than will fit in the allotted span. For apps, settings and other such menus, this works a treat. Obviously, you don't want to be scrolling through things like cabin temperature or fan speeds, so you get more conventionally laid-out menus for both, for better or for worse.