Autoline This Week - Video

On this edition of Autoline EXTRA, John sits down with Dominique Thormann, the Senior VP, Administration and Finance at Nissan North America. In addition to talking about Nissan’s new North American Headquarters in Tennessee, Mr. Thormann gives his perspective on the changing market and how Nissan has responded. And he also reveals when Nissan is looking to bring out electric vehicles for the U.S. market.

NEW ROOTS

Replanting can be tough. Just ask any backyard horticulturist how easy it is to move a ten-year-old tree. It's not. So imagine the degree of difficulty of moving a nearly 50-year-old company -- not within the same city or even the same state, but some 2,000 miles away. But that's just what Nissan did with its North American Headquarters. Two years ago the company rocked the automotive world with the news that it was leaving Orange County, California for the rolling hills of Nashville, Tennessee. And just last month that move became a reality as Nissan dedicated its $100-million North American HQ Campus. With a number of politicians, guests and employees looking on, the company's CEO Carlos Ghosn flew in to officially open the facility. Normally that would be news unto itself, but during his short visit to Tennessee, Mr. Ghosn sat down with John McElroy for a wide-ranging exclusive one-on-one discussion on all things automotive. From the oil crisis to electric cars to future partnerships, the twenty-minute interview even broke a little news, but we won't spoil the surprise here.

At the same time, don't forget you can always catch our Internet-only segment, Autoline EXTRA, at our website 24/7 along with our entire archived Autoline catalogue. Just go to http://www.autoline.tv/ and start watching.

On this edition of Autoline EXTRA John McElroy talks with product planners at Nissan and General Motors. John gets their insight into what they believe will power our vehicles in the future. John Smith, Group VP, Global Product Planning, at General Motors and Larry Dominique, VP, Product Planning, of Nissan North America, share their expertise on E-85, electric vehicles and even T. Boone Picken’s energy proposal.

AUTO ORACLES

Trying to figure out the future has probably been a hominid passion since the first Neanderthals grunted their way through the Ice Age. And even though their "more evolved" ancestors have employed tools like Astrology, Tarot cards and Clairvoyant readings since, the future, arguably, hasn't gotten any clearer.

So if it's darn near impossible to decipher if Uncle Jack is going to give you, and not your cousin, that Civil War sword you've longed for, how the heck do the auto companies, with billions of dollars on the line, accurately predict the future? With a multitude of products and a five year lead time facing them as they jostle external forces like rising steel, fuel and labor costs to name a few, this is not a job for the faint of heart. It requires the expertise of a top level engineer, a great understanding of tomorrow's consumer and perhaps even a little help from Dionne Warwick and that Psychic Friends Network doesn't hurt either.

On this week's Autoline, John McElroy interviews two of today's leading Product Planners for the Auto Industry. John Smith is the Group Vice President for Global Product Planning at General Motors while Larry Dominique is Nissan's Vice President of Product Planning for North America. Both men join John to discuss the high wire walk that many Product Planners are faced with as the market changes on seemingly a daily basis.

And as usual, don't forget you can catch our Internet-only exclusive segment Autoline EXTRA -- along with all our archived shows -- 24/7 at our website http://www.autoline.tv/

So if you're wondering what it's like to peer into a crystal ball and see the cars of the future, join John and the men who make it their business to know what we'll want to drive on down the line this Sunday.