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.