Autoline This Week

The last few years haven’t been kind to Honda. With all the strife caused by the tsunami, sales took a huge tumble. But now after some time rebuilding, Honda’s core brands are on the rebound. This week on Autoline, Michael Accavitti, American Honda product and marketing boss, joins host John McElroy, Michelle Krebs from Edmunds.com and Paul Eisenstein of the Detroit Bureau to talk Honda and the road back to the top.

For two decades WardsAuto.com has been choosing what its editors consider the 10 Best Engines of the year. Joining John McElroy to discuss the 20 years of Ten Best Engines as well as this year’s winners are Ward’s editors Drew Winter, Tom Murphy, Christie Schweinsberg and Steve Finlay.

It’s award time again and Autoline has the scoop on the biggest prize for automakers each year: the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards. Joining NACTOY founding member John McElroy on this week’s truck panel are fellow jurors Jack Nerad from Kelly Blue Book and Chris Paukert of Autoblog.com.

It’s award time again and Autoline has the scoop on the biggest prize for automakers each year: the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards. Joining NACTOY founding member John McElroy on the car panel are fellow jurors Larry Webster from Road and Track along with Matt DeLorenzo of Kelly Blue Book.

This week Autoline unveils its first annual Automotive Executive of the Year award. Joining John McElroy to sort through the short list that his expert panel has winnowed down over the three month process is Dave Cole, former CEO of the Center for Automotive Research; Neil De Koker of the Original Equipment Suppliers Association; and Edward Lapham, retired columnist from Automotive News.

Automotive Leasing Guide, or ALG as it’s known in the industry, is a very powerful force in the automotive world and it doesn’t even make cars. It’s the automotive website that sets the residual values of cars and trucks. In other words through its mountains of data the company tells automakers what its cars are worth. Executive Vice President of TrueCar Larry Dominique joins host John McElroy along with panelists Joe White of the Wall Street Journal and Craig Trudell of Bloomberg to discuss ALG and how it works with automakers and consumers alike.

Join John McElroy for his first broadcast from behind the Great Wall of China as he talks to automotive executives and experts at the Global Automotive Forum in Wuhan, China on Autoline This Week.

The United Auto Workers haven’t had much success unionizing plants from foreign automakers. But VW’s new Chattanooga, Tennessee plant may prove to be different. Join host John McElroy along with his panel labor lawyer Gary Klotz, union analyst Robert Chiaravalli and Sean McAlinden from the Center for Automotive Research as they discuss whether or not the volunteer state of Tennessee may lead to its first success with a foreign automaker.

It used to be that you took your car from place to place. Nowadays it may be the other way around. Vehicles are so loaded with technology that in some cases they are driving themselves. But that’s not the only story behind today’s connected car. Join John McElroy along with Richard Wallace from CAR, TomTom’s Nick Cohn and Steven Surhigh from Compuware to discuss what makes a car connected on Autoline This Week.

In the ongoing effort to reduce weight in their cars, automakers look at every opportunity to lose a pound here, a pound there. Some have even taken to using aluminum and carbon fiber in the body which has left the steel industry wondering how to remain relevant in these days of lightweighting. On this week’s Autoline, John McElroy is joined by experts Ron Krupitzer from SMDI, Terry Cullum from the Auto/Steel partnership and GM’s Lou Hector to talk about taking everything but the strength out of steel.