Autoline This Week
Autoline
Last episode almost 4 years agoIn depth discussions of the most important trends and developments shaping the automotive industry with industry executives and the top auto journalists. Your half-hour update on what they’re talking about in the C-suites.
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Episodes (685)
Autoline This Week #2522 - EVs Unleash A Flood Of Litigation
The auto industry knows the future is with electric vehicles. But it’s also facing a slew of new legal issues that EVs bring with them. Battery fires are pitting automakers against suppliers. Electric utilities face legal challenges from companies that operate charging stations. And consumers are demanding protection from any of these problems. Autoline This Week tackles the legal issues that have not got the attention they deserve.
Autoline This Week #2521 - Behind The Scenes Chaos At Tesla
Power Play is a new book about the history of Tesla. Its author, Wall Street Journal reporter Tim Higgins, interviewed hundreds of people both inside and outside of the company, to get the inside story of what actually happened and what is happening today.
Autoline This Week #2520 - Magna Sees EVs Leading To Great Growth
Magna makes all the major components that go into cars. It even assembles cars for various automakers, something that no other Tier 1 supplier can do. The company is one of the largest automotive suppliers in the world, it’s growing rapidly, and CEO Swamy Kotagiri lays out how his vision of how it can grow even more.
Autoline This Week #2519 - Unsung Heroes Get Inducted In The Automotive Hall Of Fame
The Automotive Hall of Fame has already Inducted some of the most famous names in the history of the industry. Now it's reaching out to induct minorities who may not be well known but who achieved impressive accomplishments for their day.
Autoline This Week #2518 - Nissan's Z Embraces Modern Technology With A Retro Design
Alfonso Albaisa is the Senior VP of Design at Nissan. He talks about how he had his team design the new Nissan Z sports car, incorporating new technology yet retaining the classic lines of its predecessors.
Autoline This Week #2517 - Gad Zoox! AV Startup Re-Writes The Book On Safety
Mark Rosekind is a former NHTSA administrator. Now he’s with autonomous vehicle startup Zoox, which was recently bought by Amazon. Zoox has a clever design for a vehicle that is going to be safer than anything that’s ever been on the road.
Autoline This Week #2516 - Manufacturing Cars With Biomaterials
The auto industry is working hard to reduce its carbon footprint. And while everyone is aware of the big push to electric cars, there are other efforts underway. One of those includes making automotive components from biomaterials. These are materials made from plants and vegetation, not from petroleum. And they’ve reached a level of sophistication and development where they are lighter, cheaper and offer better performance.
Autoline This Week #2515 - The US Trails China In Mining Metals for EVs
China cornered the global market for the critical metals and minerals needed to make EV motors and batteries. Now the Biden Administration wants to develop a US supply chain. Is that even possible? And if so, how long will it take? Three experts in mining and processing talk about the challenges that lie ahead.
Autoline This Week #2514 - Can The Grid Handle All These EVs?
Over the next three years there will be a flood of electric vehicles hitting the market. Can the electrical grid handle the load? How about on hot summer nights when people are running their air conditioning? And will transformers at the neighborhood level be able to take it?
Autoline This Week #2513 - Two Companies That Already Operate Autonomous Vehicles
Autonomous vehicles are not years away from going into commercial operation. They’re already on the road today providing rides to the public. May Mobility and Beep are two of the pioneers in this technology. They’re growing their operations and see a bright future ahead.
Autoline This Week #2512 - Rebuilding The Supply Chain for Chips and EVs
The auto industry got clobbered by a shortage of chips. It could also face a shortage of critical materials needed to make batteries and motors for electric cars. The industry needs long term planning to avoid future shortages, and may need the federal government involved to make it happen.
Autoline This Week #2511 - Work From Home, Or Go Back To The Office?
At some point the pandemic will end and people will be able to go back to the office. But many will opt to keep on working from home. The auto industry is trying to figure out how it can accommodate both. In the meantime, it’s learning new processes and etiquette for how people work together online.
Autoline This Week #2510 - Tip Toeing Through The Transition: From ICE To BEV
Automotive suppliers who make parts for piston engines know their future is threatened by electric cars. They have three choices. 1. jump on the EV bandwagon. 2. ride the piston engine into the sunset. 3. try to make parts for both. So which is the right strategy?
Autoline This Week #2509 - How Would You Like To Drive And Only Get Green Traffic Lights?
Connected car technology can dramatically improve vehicle efficiency and safety at the same time it slashes emissions. Better still, it costs a fraction of any other way to do this. Some cars already have the technology, and it’s only a matter of time before they all do.
Autoline This Week #2508 - Canada Emerges As An EV Powerhouse
A year ago the future of the Canadian auto industry looked doubtful. But then GM, Ford and Stellantis announced billions of dollars in investments to make electric cars there. Moreover, Canada has all the raw materials needed to make EV batteries and electric motors, as well as a green electric grid to manufacture them. All this transformed the outlook for the Canadian auto industry from bleak to bright.
Autoline This Week #2507 - The Challenges Of Selling More EVs
Automakers must meet government mandates for Zero Emission Vehicles. They’re investing billions of dollars to develop battery electric cars. Yet last year EV sales came to only 1.6% of all vehicles sold. This show explores the challenges and opportunities to selling more electric vehicles.
Autoline This Week #2506 - Chip Shortage Cripples Car Production
Automakers around the world are struggling with a shortage of computer chips that is bringing their assembly lines to a grinding halt. How did the industry get caught with this shortage, how is it trying to cope, and how will the problem get resolved? Our panel of experts explains what’s going on, and what needs to happen.
Autoline This Week #2505 - The Future Shines Bright For Automotive Retailers
Car dealers are creative and adaptive. They adjusted to lockdowns and social distancing caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and learned how to maintain sales with much lower levels of inventory. Auto analyst and retail expert Maryann Keller explains that they’re also going to outlast EV startups who try to sell direct to consumers.
Autoline This Week #2504 - UAW Prepares For Jobs Disruption with EVs
The auto industry is transforming itself to make electric vehicles. But EVs need 30% fewer labor hours to manufacture and could eliminate tens of thousands of jobs. The UAW is keenly aware of this and is preparing for an all-electric future. Jeff Dokho, the director of the Research Department at the UAW, lays out the union’s plans to prepare for it.
Autoline This Week #2503 - The Hydrogen Economy Takes Another Step Closer
Hydrogen fuel cell cars are not going mainstream anytime soon. But they make a lot of sense in other parts of the transportation sector, such as with semi-trucks, trains and ships. Wall Street is also waking up to the possibilities and investors are sniffing out investment opportunities. Bryan Pivovar, a Senior Research Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Lab, talks about the progress being made in hydrogen production and fuel cell development.
Autoline This Week #2502 - Chevrolet’s Digital Tool Box Is Boosting Sales and Market Share
When the auto industry shut down last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic it lost a lot of production. Even now, car dealers are running on bare-bone levels of inventory. But Chevrolet is using new digital tools to let customers peer into its pipeline and discover the delivery date for the exact vehicle they want. It’s also engaging customers online with experts who can answer their questions, including technical ones about electric cars. Steve Hill, the head of Chevrolet, talks about how they’re using these digital tools to boost market share.
Autoline This Week #2501 - The Economic and Automotive Outlook for 2021
Elaine Buckberg, the Chief Economist at General Motors, provides her economic outlook, the need for more stimulus, why the stock market is so strong, and why pickups are selling so well.
Autoline This Week #2435 - Challenges and Opportunities In The Automotive Retail Jungle
Ford and Nissan are going through the largest new product launches in the history of their respective companies. Mark LaNeve is the Head of Sales for Ford, and Allyson Witherspoon is the Chief Marketing Officer for Nissan U.S. They talk about the importance of bringing all of these new products to market and new ways they’re going to make the world aware of them.
Autoline This Week #2434: The Auto Industry Is Facing A Decade Of Upheaval
Automakers are going through a historic transition on multiple fronts. They have to develop a lineup of electric cars. They have to learn all about mobility services and data monetization. And they have to learn how to deal with a changing retail infrastructure. This show is all about what the industry will look like at the end of the decade.
Autoline This Week #2433: Canada’s Strategy To Be A Leader In Smart Mobility
To develop connected and autonomous cars and provide smart mobility doesn’t require a lot of natural resources. It requires a lot of brain power. The right kind of brain power, organized and working in the proper direction. These trends play to Canada’s strengths, as we discuss in today’s show.