Autoline This Week - Audio

Enthusiasm, Passion, Innovative and Commitment are the four key words that describe the people that Honda wants in its workforce. So many of today’s youth ignore manufacturing jobs that companies like Honda have reached out to local communities to create programs like the one in central Ohio called EPIC. John McElroy takes his show on the road to Honda’s Development Center in Marysville, Ohio to talk with a variety of educators, students and workers on how to develop an interest in today’s high-tech manufacturing jobs.

This week’s show talks about the technology that is dominating transportation today and into the near future, and does it with a macro view in language we can all understand. Joining John McElroy on his panel discussing Connectivity, Mobility and Autonomy are: Richard Wallace from the Center for Automotive Research; Lindsay Brooke, Society of Automotive Engineers; and Sam Abuelsamid, Navigant Research.

After a little more than two years on the job, United Auto Workers’ President Dennis Williams joins Autoline THIS WEEK to discuss the UAW, the automakers and how both are surviving in the 21st Century. Joining John McElroy on his panel are Brent Snavely from the Detroit Free Press and Mike Wayland of the Detroit News.

Ask any of the automotive media who they prefer to talk to at an automaker and it’s usually the company CEO. But if you happen to be a supplier to that same automaker the line usually starts at this week’s guest Thomas Lake, the Vice President of North American Purchasing at Honda North America. Joining host John McElroy on his panel are Gary Vasilash of Automotive Design and Production and Joann Muller with Forbes.

It was 8 years ago that the world economy was on a knife’s edge. And it was also the time when some of the world’s largest automakers declared bankruptcy while others stood by holding their proverbial breath. Now, a decade later it’s a brand new story, or is it? Have the OEMs really cleaned up the poor practices that led to their own knife’s edge or just rearranged the deck chairs? John McElroy welcomes three observers of the auto industry from Ann Arbor, Michigan’s Center for Automotive Research including Bernard Swiecki, Brett Smith and Dave Andrea, to discuss the car industry’s current health and what the future holds on Autoline THIS WEEK.

Autoline THIS WEEK doesn’t usually have a live audience but then it’s not usually taped in front of the Industrial Designers Society of America conference held recently in Detroit, Michigan. Joining John McElroy to discuss using “Design as a Change Agent” is Amko Leenarts the Global Director of Interior Design from Ford; Kevin Kerrigan from the Automotive Office of the Michigan Economic Development Authority; and Marc Greuther, the Chief Curator at the Henry Ford.

The U.S. EPA just released the TAR, better known as its Technical Assessment Report. This is sort of a scorecard on where the auto industry is with regard to Emission Standards and the 2025 mandate. John McElroy caught up with three experts involved in the emissions process at the Center for Automotive Research’s annual August conference. Joining him on this edition of Autoline THIS WEEK is Mike McCarthy from the California Air Resources Board, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturer’s Mitch Bainwol and Christopher Grundler, the Director of the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality.

If there’s an auto company getting more publicity these days than Tesla and its electric powertrain, we’d be surprised. That’s why Autoline has brought together three Tier One Suppliers who have specialized in the good old Internal Combustion Engine (I.C.E.) to talk about what’s going on with that franchise and put the rumors of its demise to rest. Joining host John McElroy will be representatives from AVL, FEV and Ricardo.

Everywhere you turn these days, when the topic of automotive comes up mobility is not far behind. There’s so much expansion in that area alone, OEMs are taking it very seriously. In fact, General Motors has put Julia Steyn as the VP in charge of what it calls Urban Mobility. She joins us on Autoline THIS WEEK along with host John McElroy, Rebecca Lindland of Kelley Blue Book and John Voelcker of Green Car Reports to see what direction GM is going in the field.

You’ve been drinking from its cans for years. More recently, you’ve probably sent an email or answered a phone from one of the computing/telematics companies it supplies. And soon, if not already, you may be driving an aluminum-bodied car or truck brought to you, in part, by Novelis. On this week’s show, John McElroy welcomes Novelis president of North America Marco Palmieri to the Autoline studios to talk about its expansion into automotive and where the company goes from here. Also on the panel are Alisa Priddle of Motor Trend and Richard Truett from Automotive News.

In the past, whenever the initials IP came up in conversations about cars, you were sure to be talking about the instrument panel. But nowadays with the global software explosion in auto technology, the new IP talk focuses on Intellectual Properties. On this week’s Autoline John McElroy is joined by Dr. Christal Sheppard, the Director of the Midwest Region for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as well as Pete Bigelow from Car and Driver and I.P. lawyer Jennifer Dukarski from Butzel Long to discuss Intellectual Properties in today’s auto industry.

John McElroy and GM Global Design Chief Ed Welburn discuss his career in cars and corporate America as he prepares to retire after 44 years at General Motors.

The General Motors Design Dome is 51 this year, just 12 months after celebrating a long awaited makeover. On this week’s Autoline, John McElroy and GM Global Design Chief Ed Welburn broadcast from this historic architecture surrounded by some of the classics that had their start in that very building. Joining John and Mr. Welburn to discuss the arc of GM design over the years are John Cafaro, the Executive Director, Global Chevrolet Design and Helen Emsley, Executive Director, Global GMC Design and User Experience.

Three Asian automotive experts including Michael Dunne of Dunne Automotive, James Chao of IHS Automotive Asia-Pacific and Bill Russo from GaoFeng Greater China, join John McElroy on the floor of the Beijing Auto Show to discuss the, up to now, booming Chinese automotive market and where it goes from here.

Three top automotive designers including Peter Horbury from Geely, Ken Parkinson of GM Shanghai and Chery Automobile’s James Hope, join John McElroy on the floor of the Beijing Auto Show to discuss the challenges of creating cars for the Chinese automotive market.