Autoline This Week - Video

It's award time again and it starts with the finalists for the North American Truck of the Year. John McElroy is joined by two fellow jurors from the North American Car and Truck of the Year jury to review the top three finalists and make their predictions for this year's winner. John welcomes Michelle Krebs from Edmunds.com and Tony Swan from Car and Driver and Kelly Blue Book.

The Environmental Protection Agency's calendar keeps turning. Auto manufacturers are on a deadline to raise their total mpgs. Most are pushing their engineers to come up with gas-sipping ICEs as well as alternative powertrains like electrics and hybrids. But in addition, they are also turning to lighter weight materials like carbon fiber. Though still extremely expensive, manufacturers and suppliers alike are looking at ways to make the product cheaper so it can go on vehicles of all prices. On Autoline This Week John McElroy welcomes three people from the carbon fiber world. Florian Schattenmann is the Global R and D Director for supplier Dow Chemical, Graham Henkel is the designer of the new Viper from Chrysler's SRT division while James Staargaard is the president of Plasan Carbon Composites.

Despite being one of the largest and most successful automotive suppliers in the world, most consumers only know the BorgWarner name from its connection to the Indianapolis 500. It has sponsored the winner's trophy since 1935. And despite the products it does produce for racing, namely its turbo systems, this company founded in the 19th century produces high-tech powertrain components along with a variety of other automotive products for cars across the globe. Joining John McElroy on Autoline This Week is James Verrier, the company's current President and Chief Operating Office. Drew Winter from WardsAuto.com and Joe Szczesy of the Oakland Press join in on the discussion.

Many believe the biggest news of 1982 was the Falklands War invasion while in business the DeLorean Motor Car Company hit the brakes for the last time. Meanwhile, the big winner at the movies was the overachieving period film “Chariots of Fire.” Those stories grabbed the headlines but in a rural hamlet near central Ohio, Honda was quietly opening the first Japanese auto factory on U.S. soil. It’s been 30 years since those doors opened and the factory is not only still going strong but continues to grow and expand. This week on Autoline, John McElroy goes on-the-road to Marysville, Ohio to visit this historic plant and see what it has meant to not only Honda for the last 30 years, but the community as well.

Cash for Clunkers may have been great for the manufacturers at the time, but few realized the long term impact it would have on the used car market. Even today – close to four years later – the prices for good used cars are still rocketing skyward. Whether they come from the auto auctions, trade-ins or even Internet sites, thanks to the combination of Clunker destruction and a stagnate economy, the used market continues to be a hot commodity. And John McElroy has the topic covered with his Autoline panel including: Ricky Beggs from the Internet site Black Book, Ron MacEachern, the General Manager from the Detroit area dealership the Suburban Collection and Steve Finlay from WardsAuto.com.

AM Radio was king in the car for nearly 50 years. But since the 70s, its evolution has been fast and furious. First FM was all the rage followed by music on 8 Track and Cassette tapes. It wasn’t long before CDs started flooding the front seat and now, well you know, anything goes. Today’s Multi Media Interface can offer the driver everything from Satellite Radio Services to Navigation to even the Internet without breaking a sweat, but that’s just the tip of the chip. On Autoline This Week, John McElroy talks with three experts in audio electronics to hear first hand about the latest and greatest that they’re offering the consumer. Joining John are Marios Zenios, the head of Chrysler’s Uconnect Systems, Mike Hichme, GM’s Infotainment Design Manager and Allen Kudla from Panasonic Automotive.

You may be buying your car from the biggest auto dealer in the country and not even know it. AutoNation has over 200 dealerships selling cars under 18 different local brands around the USA. From luxury to economy, from Sacramento to Orlando, this 16-year old corporation has the country blanketed with cars so if there’s any one person who has a good sense of where the retail is heading in this industry it’s Mike Jackson. On Autoline This Week the Chairman and CEO of AutoNation joins John McElroy to share his views on the state of the auto industry and where it goes from here.

They arrived with such fanfare a couple years back, that you’d have thought we’d all be driving electrics by now but that’s not the case. In fact, even today some manufacturers are reticent to even offer an electric option. But that hasn’t stopped everyone from the biggest OEMs to the single car startups from designing and building all-electric cars. On Autoline This Week John McElroy and his panel look at the world of electric cars, if there’s a want, a need or a business case to be made for their existence. Joining John in studio is Csaba Csere, the former Editor-in-Chief of Car and Driver magazine and Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics.

Heavy steel, hard plastic and thick rubber used to dominate an automaker’s assembly line. But these days those elements have been replaced by high strength, lighter weight cousins of the earlier versions along with newer materials, like aluminum. On this week’s Autoline, John McElroy introduces you to his panel of materials experts who talk about how their latest products are impacting the auto industry. Joining John on his panel are Rose Ryntz from IAC talking about the new softer, stronger plastics, Blake Zuidema from steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal discussing today’s high strength steel and Ganesh Panneer from Novelis, who provides lightweight aluminum to many auto manufacturers.

Scott Painter is the essence of the 21st century entrepreneur. Having started several dot-coms since his days at Berkley, he turned his sights to the auto industry with TrueCar.com, an attempt to educate the automotive consumer with data and pricing. And that’s where all the trouble began. On Autoline This Week, John McElroy welcomes Scott Painter to the studio to talk about how TrueCar is attempting to change the auto buying customer experience. John’s panel of industry experts includes Steve Finlay from WardsAuto.com and Joe White from the Wall Street Journal.