GM COULD REPAY EVERY SINGLE PENNY

Even though General Motors surprised everyone when it announced it will repay its government loans by next June, a lot of people are still unhappy. What about the other $50 billion we poured into the company, they demand to know?

A lot of politicians and not a few Wall Street analysts say we may as well kiss that money goodbye. We'll never see it again, they promise.

But it's entirely possible, and even likely, that they are very much mistaken. Taxpayers are likely to get a lot of that money back. Indeed, the federal government could come out looking pretty good in this deal, just like it did when it bailed out Chrysler in the early 80s.

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John McElroy is host of the TV program "Autoline Detroit" and daily web video "Autoline Daily". Every week he brings his unique insights as an auto industry insider to Autoblog readers.
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A RADICALLY NEW TYPE OF ENGINE

When oil prices shot over $100 a barrel a year ago, I was inundated with press releases from inventors claiming they had an engine that would solve the energy crisis. In most cases, I simply deleted each release and went on with my work. You see, I've seen this all before.

The same thing happened after the oil shocks of the 1970s. All kinds of inventors came up with all kinds of engine designs, promising to solve the country's energy problem. But not one of those engines ever made it into production.

In most cases these new designs only existed on paper. In other cases, the efforts were led by people who had no clue what it takes to break into the automotive industry. Think about it. In the last 100 years only three engines have made it into mass production: the gasoline engine, the diesel engine, and the rotary. And only Mazda has stuck with the rotary.

But recently I got to see a new type of engine that makes me think it might have a chance. Part of that has to do with the design of the engine. The other part has to do with who is behind the project.

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John McElroy is host of the TV program "Autoline Detroit" and daily web video "Autoline Daily". Every week he brings his unique insights as an auto industry insider to Autoblog readers.
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How to Raise the Gas Tax

Raising taxes on gasoline is political suicide in the United States. Any politician foolish enough to propose raising the gas tax would be hounded out of office, or never elected in the first place. We, the American people, will see to that.

You see, we don't like taxes of any sort. And we especially hate gas taxes. Owning a car in America isn't so much of a privilege as it is a necessity. Most our communities don't have public transportation. So we need our wheels to get to work, or school, or going out for fun, or whatever else we want to do with them. In America, even the poorest among us drive cars. And none of us want the government taxing our mobility out of our reach.

But maybe the problem is that the American people have never been properly sold on the need to raise the gas tax. Here's my pitch.

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John McElroy is host of the TV program "Autoline Detroit" and daily web video "Autoline Daily". Every week he brings his unique insights as an auto industry insider to Autoblog readers.
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CHRYSLER CONSIDERS GETTING BACK INTO BIG RIGS

One of the more intriguing tidbits that dribbled out of Chrysler's grueling 8-hour press conference on Wednesday is that the company is considering getting back into the heavy truck business. They're not talking about heavy duty pick-ups, they're talking about 18-wheelers.

Up until the early 1970's Dodge sold heavy trucks, including semi-tractors. In fact, Dodge trucks were famous the world over. But like GM and Ford, the Chrysler Corporation decided to get out of that business at a time when the commercial truck sector was under pressure.

When times are good heavy trucks generate a significant amount of profits. Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Renault, Toyota (Hino), Nissan and Mitsubishi (Fuso) are still in the business. But it takes a lot of capital investment to get into and stay in the highly cyclical heavy truck segment, which is why the American car companies abandoned that market years ago.

In this case, the idea to get Chrysler back into the heavy truck market is Fiat's, not Chrysler's. And that is precisely why this could actually happen.

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John McElroy is host of the TV program "Autoline Detroit" and daily web video "Autoline Daily". Every week he brings his unique insights as an auto industry insider to Autoblog readers.
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Brazil's E100 Drives Innovative Fuel Injection

A few weeks ago Rio de Janeiro landed the 2016 Olympics largely thanks to the fact that Brazil is climbing up the rank of nations. It has grown to become the 10th largest economy in the world and a key reason has to do with the country's energy policy.

By committing heavily to ethanol, Brazil no longer imports oil to make fuel. That means the country now has a trade surplus and a positive balance of payments. The economy is growing while unemployment is dropping. Ethanol doesn't get all the credit for Brazil's impressive growth, but it's playing a significant role. Instead of talking about kicking its oil addiction, Brazil did it.

An unexpected side benefit of committing to ethanol is that Brazil is also taking the lead in developing new fuel injection systems that allow cars to run on pure ethanol (E-100). This is arguably the first time that Brazil has ever taken the lead on automotive technology.

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John McElroy is host of the TV program "Autoline Detroit" and daily web video "Autoline Daily". Every week he brings his unique insights as an auto industry insider to Autoblog readers.
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Why Saturn Failed

In the early 1980s General Motors launched a top-secret program to figure out how it could build a small car to successfully compete against the Japanese automakers. It was called the S-car program and the results of this study shocked top management at GM.

It conclusively proved General Motors could not profitably build a small car in the United States that was priced against the Japanese -- at least not under the current GM system. And that launched another study to figure out what it would take become competitive.

GM concluded that it needed a clean-sheet approach to designing, engineering, manufacturing and retailing small cars in the American market. In other words, it needed a whole new car company. And so Saturn was born.

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John McElroy is host of the TV program "Autoline Detroit" and daily web video "Autoline Daily". Every week he brings his unique insights as an auto industry insider to Autoblog readers.
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Why Car Names Really Matter

What's in a name? Does it really matter what you call a car, or will a car sell well as long as it's well designed?

As an enthusiast, I always felt that the name of a car never really mattered all that much. I was always more interested in the design and the mechanical aspects of the machine rather than the badge. If it had a cool sounding name, sure, that was good. But to me a great car was a great car no matter what they called it.

Now I'm not so sure.

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John McElroy is host of the TV program "Autoline Detroit" and daily web video "Autoline Daily". Every week he brings his unique insights as an auto industry insider to Autoblog readers.
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TOYOTA'S HYBRIDS COULD BE BANNED FROM THE AMERICAN MARKET

In a shocking development Toyota faces a lawsuit filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission that seeks to ban the import of all hybrids to the American market. Toyota is being sued by Paice LLC for patent infringement on its hybrid system.

Before you think this is just a frivolous lawsuit that has no standing whatsoever, consider the fact that Paice has already successfully sued Toyota on five counts of patent infringement, and won on three of them. In April of this year, Paice was awarded by the Federal district court in the Eastern District of Texas a future royalty of $98 for every Prius sold.

Toyota is appealing that verdict, but just to up the ante Paice decided to file its suit with the ITC and go for an all-out ban on all the hybrids the giant Japanese automaker brings into the U.S. market.

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John McElroy is host of the TV program "Autoline Detroit" and daily web video "Autoline Daily". Every week he brings his unique insights as an auto industry insider to Autoblog readers.
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Cash For Clunkers Conspiracy?

To hear the government tell it, foreign automakers and compact cars were the big winners in the Cash for Clunkers program. The Department of Transportation makes it look like consumers all wanted small fuel-efficient cars, particularly from the import brands.

But an analysis by Edmunds.com tells a very different story. It found that a fair number of Clunker buyers bought pickups and Ford came out as the clear winner in the Top Ten list. Indeed, Edmunds' analysis shows that the government came up with a bizarre way to count Clunker sales and we know now that the DOT counted sales based on the drivetrain in a vehicle, not by its nameplate. For example, the front-wheel drive version of the Ford Escape was counted separately from the all-wheel drive version. As a result, vehicles that only offer one drivetrain came out on the top of the list.

No one in the history of the auto industry has ever counted sales this way, and it's mighty peculiar why the government would choose to do so. Is there some other agenda at work?

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John McElroy is host of the TV program "Autoline Detroit" and daily web video "Autoline Daily". Every week he brings his unique insights as an auto industry insider to Autoblog readers.
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THE CLUNKERS PROGRAM EXCEEDED EVERYONE'S EXPECTATIONS

Despite a lot of skepticism from industry analysts, the "Cash for Clunkers" program exceeded just about everyone's expectations. It brought in new customers, cleaned out a lot of old inventory, and started putting auto workers back to work.

A lot of critics, me included, thought this was just a government giveaway that really wouldn't have much effect. And while there's no question it was a giveaway, it did meet the goals of the program: to help reduce America's dependence on oil and stimulate the economy.

Most impressively, dealers tell me that the Clunkers program brought in customers they had never seen before. They were people who would not normally buy a new car. The only reason they came into the showrooms shopping for new cars was because of the cash they could get for their clunkers. And the dealers are pretty sure they'll never see most of them ever again.

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