Autoline This Week

GM and Chrysler got a lot of attention over the bridge loan requests they made recently but what got lost in the debate is that many suppliers are in trouble too. On this edition of Autoline EXTRA, John McElroy talks with William Diehl, President & CEO of BBK, a firm that assists companies in turnarounds and restructuring. Mr. Diehl offers his advice to suppliers and what they need to do in order to turnaround business.

Emotional Rescue

"I will be your savior, steadfast and true."

It's pretty safe to say that the Rolling Stones and George W. Bush have little in common. But when it comes to the Big Three bailout, these Mick Jagger-penned lyrics sound like a sentence that might've come from the Oval Office as the President approved the $17 billion bridge loans. Ahhh, everyone in Detroit breathes a huge sigh of relief. But how much of a rescue -- emotional or otherwise -- are the loans? As they say, be careful what you wish for.

On this week's show we take a look inside the bridge loans from three different perspectives: players, participants and partisans. We start the conversation with Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, a suburban Detroit Republican who had to balance ideology and reality throughout the crisis. Then John talks to a couple of automotive reporters, David Welch from BusinessWeek & Jeff Bennett of Dow Jones Newswire, who watched as Detroit nearly crumbled these last couple of months. We'll hear how the companies dealt with the ever-changing situation and explore their plans going forward. And speaking of plans, as part of the loan language the Big Three will have to restructure. What exactly does that mean? Joining John is an expert in the field, Bill Diehl who is the President & CEO of BBK, a company that specializes in doing just that.

Who would've predicted a few weeks ago that these late '70s Mick Jagger lyrics would seem appropriate?

With the long-awaited news from the White House last week, this line might've seemed natural coming from the President as it did when it was originally sung back in 1980 by the Rolling Stones.

On this edition of Autoline EXTRA, John McElroy continues his discussion with Anne Asensio the VP of Design Experience at Dassault Systemes. Ms. Asensio discusses moving from the OEM side of design to the supplier side and what the differences are between the two. She also shares her thoughts on if designs in the 3D world can be as beautiful and artistic as drawing with conventional tools.

Pure Imagination

When Gene Wilder first sang "Pure Imagination" in the 1971 movie classic 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,' he was strolling amid Chernobyl-sized eatable candied plants and a river of liquid chocolate -- obviously fictitious creations from the fertile minds of movie magicians. Some 28 years later, when it comes to the equipment we're seeing in today's automobiles compared to the early '70s, you almost shake your head in disbelief as we did when we first saw Wonka's Candy Factory: works of pure imagination, indeed.

In this week's show we talk with three executives from three different companies and discuss not only some of these incredible products but just how they are being developed for today's cars.

We start with Anne Asensio from Dassault Systemes, a French firm that creates products for its client base in the virtual world. Ms. Asensio says that today, more than in the past, design has become an extremely collaborative effort that involves everyone in the food chain -- from the very top to the customers themselves. Meanwhile, one of the products coming out of this collaborative effort, in this case from our second guest's company iBiquity, is HD Radio. Bob Struble heads this supplier which produces digital receivers that allow you to listen to all those restricted local AM & FM radio stations that are now being broadcast only on Hybrid Digital bands. And speaking of restrictive broadcasting, let's not forget about the Internet. Chrysler sure hasn't. It’s working with a firm from Silicon Valley that's bringing the Internet to its cars and trucks in the not too distant future. Jennifer Applebee from Chrysler joins John to tell us just how far away this technology is and what will be available with it once it's in the vehicle.

The Energy Independence and Security Act, which was passed into law last year, mandates that 36 billion gallons of bio-fuel be produced in the U.S. by 2022. On this edition of Autoline EXTRA, Ford’s Chief Technical Officer, Gerhard Schmidt explains why that figure may be hard to achieve. And he shares his outlook for what type of fuels will be powering our vehicles in the future. Joining John McElroy in the discussion are Tom Murphy of WardsAuto.com and Csaba Csere from Car and Driver.

Technologic

Few might recognize this little used 19th century noun. Fewer still have probably noticed the word is the soundtrack to one of the slick new Lincoln MKS television ads. The song emphasizes the abundance of technology you find in the new sedan. And technology has been a key to not only Lincoln's renaissance, but Ford's as well. Dr. Gerhard Schmidt is the man who leads the team at the Blue Oval responsible for EcoBoost in the engine, Sync inside the car and everything in between. On this week's Autoline he talks about this latest technology and what may be coming in future Ford cars and trucks.

The bailout of the Big 3 is the topic of discussion on this edition of Autoline EXTRA. John McElroy and his panel discuss how the automakers could recover more quickly if the economy becomes more financially stable. Joining John in the discussion are Dr. David Cole, from the Center for Automotive Research, and Mike Stanton from the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers.

Lifeboat

Long before he was dubbed the Master of the Macabre, legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock was known for his psychological thrillers. "Notorious," "Strangers On A Train" and the 1944 classic "Lifeboat" were prime examples of this work -- especially the latter film where a handful of strangers try to survive the unexpected adversity of their ship sunken at sea. One would think the group works together to overcome the odds, but that's not the way Hitchcock worked. And that may not be the way Washington works either when it comes to the proposed Detroit Three Bailout. GM, Ford and Chrysler are all asking for a monetary "lifeboat" but it's not going smoothly. The political forces are rocking the boat, pulling in opposite directions waiting for someone to take charge, while that someone -- President-Elect Obama -- doesn't take office for another 60+ days. Will something get done before then? Can something get done before Inauguration Day? Our guests offer their analysis on whether the lifeboat floats or not.

And speaking of lifeboats, Dow Automotive has created a quasi one for NASCAR in the form of energy absorbing foam. John is joined by the company's president Steve Henderson as he describes how they came up with the product Impaxx and what it's meant for the safety of NASCAR drivers since they started using it. Lifeboat, indeed!

On this edition of Autoline EXTRA John and his guests continue their discussion about automotive quality. They shift focus to Hyundai and discuss the automakers unbelievable run up the quality charts over the last ten years. They also discuss if American consumers have different quality expectations than consumers in other countries. Joining John in the discussion are David Champion of Consumer Reports, David Sargent from J.D. Power & Associates and Dennis Pietrowski of The RDA Group.

Dromedary

When anyone thinks of a hump perhaps the first thought that comes to mind is that well-known beast of burden of North Africa - the Dromedary Camel. But in the auto industry, when the Detroit Three think of a hump those thoughts switch from camels to quality. That's because if there's any one hump or challenge that continues to hold them back from "import equality" it appears to be this. Now granted, all three OEMs have improved dramatically from the nadir of the '70s when they produced everything from poorly-designed diesels to flapping vinyl roofs. But today, with nearly all of those problems a thing in the past, GM, Ford and Chrysler are still looking up at many of the imports in a variety of quality rankings. So what accounts for that, and will any of them ever attain the top spot again? On this week's show John McElroy and his three experts on automotive quality will examine what it may finally take for the Detroit Three to get "over the hump.".

And don't forget you can watch the latest edition of Autoline right now at our website (http://www.autolinedetroit.tv/) along with our Internet-only Autoline EXTRA segment and any of our archived shows 24/7.