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Who's Where: Sielaff and Egger take on new roles in 2012

Both Wolfgang Egger and Stefan Sielaff will take on new roles in the latest move of car designer chess within the Volkswagen Group. Egger takes over the position of Head of Audi Brand Design from Sielaff, who will become Head of Interior Design for the Volkswagen Group as well as Head of the Volkswagen Design Center in Potsdam. Their respective roles will become operational on 1 February 2012.

For new CAFE rules, automakers place high-stakes tech bets

Game-changing 2015 fuel economy rules are forcing vehicle development teams to make high-stakes bets on expensive technologies--bets that will separate the winners from the also-rans. Not only do federal rules target a 2015 fleet average of 35.5 mpg, up from the current 27.5 mpg for cars and 23.1 mpg for light trucks; they force automakers to bet on different technology packages for each vehicle segment. Companies that do best at mixing technologies while keeping down costs will have an advantage when buyers wince at higher stickers.

Ram truck gets new V6, eight-speed transmission

The Ram pickup scheduled to be introduced in April will offer both the Pentastar 3.6-liter V6 and an eight-speed transmission, according to a Chrysler Group filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The voluntary annual filing--which appeared Tuesday on the automaker's corporate Web site, chryslergroupllc.com--laid out many new features of the upcoming version of the automaker's top-selling vehicle. The new eight-speed transmission "reduces fuel consumption by up to 12 percent over our current five-speed transmissions," such as the one now in the Ram, the filing said.