Autoline This Week

Anyone who lives in America has undoubtedly noticed that cars have been flying off dealer lots. New, Used, Pre-Owned…whatever the type, the numbers are staggering. But is it just a one country story? How are sales in some of the other great economies of the world? On Autoline THIS WEEK John McElroy and three global auto analysts look at sales from the four corners of the world to see if this has been just a one country recovery.

It broke in mid-September but had been boiling for some time. Volkswagen, the largest automaker in the world had done wrong with its diesel engines. VW was hoping it might go away but this huge story has done nothing but grow. On this week’s Autoline, John McElroy is joined by an all-star panel including, Csaba Csere, Contributing Editor, Car and Driver, Pulitzer Prize reporter Joe White from Reuters and AutoPacific car analyst Dave Sullivan, to look at what VW did and if it can get itself out of this global quagmire.

There are 8 classifications for trucks in America. Many of us know the first three, which are all Light duty. The other five, Medium and Heavy duty, are not as well known though we do see them on the road all the time. On this week’s show John McElroy introduces us to the larger class of trucks, who uses them and where they are bought and sold. Joining him on his panel are Shaun Skinner, the VP of Sales for Isuzu Commercial Truck, analyst John Stark from the Stark’s News Service as well as Greg Reefer a veteran Peterbilt Heavy Duty truck dealer.

In the old days, the phrase was if you owned a dealership it was like a license to print money. These days, with so many options for consumers, the dealers aren’t making nearly as much on the cars like they used to. But they’re still expected to participate in the community like they always did. This week John McElroy welcomes current NADA chair William Fox to talk about the world of today’s car dealer. He is joined on the panel by Steve Finlay from Ward’s Dealer Business and Jeff Bennett of the Wall Street Journal.

His name is Kumar Galhotra and he’s got what many consider the toughest job at Ford. He is in charge of rebuilding its famous luxury brand, what they now call the Lincoln Motor Company. John McElroy welcomes Mr. Galhotra as his guest for this week’s show along with Alisa Priddle from the Detroit Free Press and Keith Naughton of Bloomberg.

With computers running more of your car’s activities these days, is it safe from hackers? We recently discovered Jeeps weren’t. Joining John McElroy on this week’s Autoline to discuss the growing problem of Cybersecurity is Jeff Massimilla from General Motors, analyst Egil Juliussen from IHS Automotive and Erika Anden from the Sandab Group.

Johnson Controls is one of the world’s leading automotive suppliers. Mary Ann Wright leads its global engineering and product development where she is responsible for driving technology and energy storage solutions. She joins John McElroy as his guest on this week’s Autoline along with Jeff Bennett from the Wall Street Journal and David Welch from Bloomberg.

100 years ago 21-year old Edsel Ford was preparing to join his father running Ford Motor Company. Just before he took the reins, Edsel and six buddies drove 1915 Model T’s cross- country on, what Bruce Springsteen would later call, “a last chance power drive.” Mark Gessler of the Historical Vehicle Association re-enacted the drive this year and joins John McElroy and Mark Phelan of the Detroit Free Press to talk about “both” journeys.

We all hear the word “CAFE” and think consumption – coffee/food – but in the auto industry it’s all about miles per gallon. Two men from different agencies who each have a lot to do with CAFE sat down separately with John McElroy to discuss where the standards are going. Joining John are Christopher Grundler from the Environmental Protection Agency and Dr. Alberto Ayala from the California Air Resources Board or CARB.

How do you buy your cars? Do you still negotiate or do you use one of those 3rd Party programs that set the price for you? Joining John McElroy to discuss this new option for buying a car is the CEO of the Costco Auto Program Jeff Skeen and dealer Ken Foster from Brown Honda in Toledo, Ohio.

Takata might’ve gotten the most headlines this year, but recalls have hit the auto industry hard across the board. Joining John McElroy in separate one-on-one interviews to talk about the topic is Mark Rosekind, the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration and Ben Hoffman the CEO of the company Movimento that might just have an answer to help with recalls.

With as much change that is currently encompassing the automotive industry, the big rigs aren’t very far behind. Joining John McElroy to talk about topics including everything from lightweighting to platooning is attorney Tom Manganello from Warner, Norcross and Judd, Mihai Dorobantu from Eaton and trucking company owner Brian Pohl.

With car and truck sales predicted to hit around 17-million for the year, you’d imagine that most dealers are singing “Happy Days Are Here Again.” But is that really true? Joining John McElroy as his Autoline THIS WEEK guest is Steven Szakaly, the Chief Economist for the National Auto Dealer Association. John and Steven are joined by Steve Finlay from Ward’s Dealer Business and the Wall Street Journal’s John Stoll.

With so much of today’s engineering revolving around the connected car and autonomy, many automakers are setting up shop in Silicon Valley including Detroit Three member Ford. Autoline went west to take a sneak peek and see what Ford is developing in the midst of its neighbors like Google, Tesla and Apple. Host John McElroy talks with Ford executives Raj Nair, Ken Washington and Don Butler about how this lab will impact future product. In addition, he takes you for a quick tour behind the scenes at some of the experiments being done within the walls of this high tech lab.

With auto sales going gangbusters you’d think it’s the perfect time for the United Auto Workers to sit down and talk a new contract, right? The union gave up a lot to keep GM and Chrysler alive – along with its members’ jobs – but with the automotive landscape changing daily with CAFE numbers, the growth of Mexico and autonomy, there’s a lot to talk about. Joining host John McElroy on his panel to discuss where the talks could be going are Kristin Dziczek, Center for Automotive Research (CAR), Former GM labor negotiator Art Schwartz from Labor and Economics Associates and Robert Chiaravalli from Strategic Labor and Human Resources.