“Sliding South” (#1205)

Synopsis

It’s no secret that the U.S. economy is in a funk. Is it headed into in a recession? That’s open to debate. What’s not open to debate is the fact that the auto industry has been sliding downward. And where it’ll end up is anyone’s guess.

That’s why this week Autoline has two experts whose business is to accurately predict where the auto industry will end up in 2008. Joining John McElroy in our first segment is Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, the chief economist from the Ford Motor Company, and Ted Chu who is the lead economist for General Motors. Both authorities talk about the industry, the economy and how they believe it will impact the automotive world in this presidential election year.

Also on this week’s show John sits down with Ralph Gilles, Chrysler’s V.P. of design for Jeep and Truck to talk about how Chrysler is working on improving the interiors of its vehicles, starting with the new Ram pickup.

And finally we look at the breakthrough that GM announced at The North American International Auto Show regarding cellulosic ethanol. This could be the game changer, in the short term, when it comes to wider availability of ethanol and flex fuel vehicles throughout America and maybe even the rest of the world.