Autoline This Week - Video

It’s an exciting time to be an automotive designer but creating a new style for a brand isn’t an easy task. Designers must be able to predict the future and identify styling trends years before a new car is launched. On this edition of Autoline This Week, John McElroy sits down with designers from Jeep, Buick and Ford to discuss how they go about creating a new car design.

The auto industry is going through enormous technological change right now, with the development of electric vehicles, autonomous cars and mobility services. But there’s a lot of fights developing behind the scenes over the patents, the trade secrets and the intellectual property that backs up that technology. On this edition of Autoline This Week, our panel of experts discuss the best way to protect those industrial secrets.

Ten years ago analysts were advising Ford to bury its luxury brand Lincoln; the Germans and Japanese had too much of the market they said, plus its U.S. competition, Cadillac, was already in the midst of making a comeback. However, Ford ignored the naysayers and resurrected the brand with new product, new leadership and even reviving some of its historic nameplates to boot. This week on Autoline, we talk with our special guest Kumar Galhotra the head of Lincoln about where the brand is today and where it will be going as we move into the 2020s.

Despite the fact that it has six different brands, last year the two that made the most money for FCA were Jeep and RAM. And this year both brands are debuting new product. However, today there seems to be nothing more important to the public than a truck, and RAM has a dynamite light-duty version, which it unveiled recently at the North American International Auto Show. This week’s Autoline talks to the two men responsible for the interior design and marketing of the truck. Join us for a deep dive into the 2019 RAM 1500 half-ton pickup.

Many analysts say that automakers who continue to make cars like the ones produced the last 100 years, may find themselves out of business in the not too distant future if that continues to be their concentration. And that’s a big reason why OEMs like Ford have made a big investment on mobility. Whether it’s technology, ride-sharing or product planning, the executive in charge of all mobility for the Blue Oval is Executive Vice President Marcy Klevorn. Autoline recently caught up Ms. Klevorn at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, Nevada where she sat down with Autoline to share the Ford mobility story.

It’s one of the most coveted design jobs in the automotive world. Only seven talented men, throughout its 90-year history, have been lucky enough to hold the title “Head of GM Design.” The most recent is Michael Simcoe, the first Aussie to steer the ship. This week he sits down with John McElroy along with Alisa Priddle from Motor Trend and Automobile’s Todd Lassa as they talk about this historic job and where he’d like to take General Motors Design.

Imagine how difficult of a job it is to be in charge of Ford’s Product Development. And then how about if we put you in charge of Ford Purchasing as well. This combination is the latest job description of Ford executive Hau Thai-Tang. He joins John as Autoline THIS WEEK’s special guest as he discusses his engineering past, his latest roles with the company and his nearly three decades with Ford Motor Company.

It’s one of the most sought-after engineering awards in the world and Autoline has the inside scoop. The WardsAuto editorial staff joins us to discuss this year’s 10 Best engines in the world.

It’s almost time for the North American International Auto Show where manufacturers not only unveil the newest cutting-edge cars, but a group of North American auto writers award the coveted NACTOY best car, truck and sport utility of the year prize. Join juror John McElroy and three of his fellow NACTOY auto writers as they discuss the finalists and who they each believe is the vehicle of the year.

There’s so much changing with today’s auto industry from people to products and customers, the one thing that doesn’t change is the bottom line. That’s why it’s always interesting to see how the automotive economists see the coming year. Joining John McElroy on his annual show will be the chief economists from General Motors, Ford and the Original Equipment Specialty Association or OESA.

John McElroy revisits some of the most interesting ATW shows from 2017.

John McElroy and three top auto journalists – Joe White with Reuters, Greg Migliore from Autoblog and Automobile’s Todd Lassa -- examine the top automotive news stories from 2017.

Back in January 2016, GM saw that it needed to make a move; actually several of them if it wanted to remain viable for the future. Since it already had the cars it started with a Zipcar-like rental service called Maven and now has graduated to something called Maven Gig. Joining John McElroy to explain the story of Maven and how GM plans to expand it is Rachel Bhattacharya, Maven’s director of Commercial Mobility Strategy.

Today’s cars collect data. The computers and electronics on cars, trucks and SUVs capture almost everything we do and where we go with it. And some of that information can be valuable to different sectors of the auto industry. To explain to us what this data is and who owns it, John McElroy is joined by a powerhouse panel including Acxiom information analyst Michael Perugi, privacy expert Jennifer Dukarski from the law firm Butzel Long and automotive analyst Sam Abuelsamid from Navigant Research.

Entrepreneur Dale Pollak made his name developing software to solve day-to-day dealership issues. But along the way he witnessed the tsunami of changes that would envelope 21st century automotive retailers and chronicled many of them in his book “Like I See It.” Today he joins Autoline to discuss not only his book, but how the changing retail world is affecting your local car dealer and how it impacts both you and me. Joining John McElroy on his journalist panel is Gary Vasilash from Automotive Design and Production and WardsAuto’s Steve Finlay.