Join your favorite audio hucksters as they put their heads together in an attempt to defy an age-old idiom.  This week they try to build a better mousetrap.  Learn about one Detroit-area hot-rodder that’s crafting a better vintage Chrysler sports car . . . one the company never actually built.  Find out what kind of insane powerplant was crammed into the back of a MINI in an attempt to deliver better performance.  You won’t believe your ears when you hear how much better chicken feathers, yes, chicken feathers are at storing energy than some much more expensive and higher-tech options.  Enjoy all of these exciting stories and more plus RoAb first-timer Nina Beckhardt of The Naming Group is our special guest this week.  The panel picks her brain about the controversial Chevrolet Sonic and a number of other name-related topics.   Enjoy RoundAbout #72, the “Better Mousetrap” episode.

Play RoundAbout Episode 72

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Featuring: Nina Beckhardt, Michelle Naranjo, Jeffrey Ross, Eric Trytko, Craig Cole and Ben Sanders

Show notes and Ustream video after the jump!

RoundAbout records LIVE on Fridays at 6:30PM ET/3:30PM PT. Visit RoundAboutShow.com and click Watch Live to watch our webcast and look in on all the antics.

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(Archived video after the jump below)

This week Peter De Lorenzo, the Autoextremist, takes the AAH reins while John McElroy is out on the West Coast. Mr. Renzo has summoned up two of his favorite car guys for the occasion: Scott Burgess, the automotive critic and columnist for The Detroit News, and “the man who knew too much,” Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics. Together they’ll be diving into the deep issues of the week. With oil prices skyrocketing as a result of Middle East unrest, which of the small vehicles — Cruze, Focus or Elantra — will be poised to take advantage of the situation? Meanwhile, BMW will be giving all its alt fuel vehicles the “i” moniker. Also, Honda chopped down the size of its board of directors from 20 to 12. Just what is going on at that company? Join us as we get into all this and much more.

Thanks to our sponsors who make Autoline After Hours possible: Bridgestone, Chevrolet and Dow Automotive Systems.

Subscribe to the free podcast version of Autoline After Hours:

Thanks to our partners MissMotorMouth.com, Rumblestrip.net and WardsAuto.com for embedding AAH!
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Runtime 13:18

John McElroy and his panel continue their discussion from Autoline Detroit 1509 during which they discuss some of the automotive ads they didn’t have time for in the broadcast version. John is joined by David Kiley from AOL Autos / Advertising Age, Jean Halliday from AutoAdOpolis and Gary Topolewski, an advertising creative director, to talk about such ads as VW’s Darth Vader commercial, MINI’s “Cram it in the Boot” ad as well as the efforts by Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz and Ford.

The Open Line show, the most unique automotive show out there, is having an open call!

We are planning another unique, groundbreaking format. This time, it’s going to be a single global open forum in the Open Line format, that spans 24 hours and travels from country to country, time zone to time zone, engaging the brightest and most enthusiastic automotive minds in the world in one single topic: What should power the car of the future?

To power this call, we are going to need co-hosts around the world who will partner with hostess Michelle Naranjo on this journey.

What are the qualities and requirements to be a co-host for this event?

• Be a knowledgeable automotive enthusiast
• Be able to engage an open-ended bevvy of callers in a focused automotive discussion
• Be observant to the trends in the discussion and questions in the chat room
• Be outgoing, gregarious but a generous listener
• Be able to compile a report on the hosted session of what the general consensus sounded like
• Be anywhere in the world with a phone, internet connection or Skype access
• Be active in social media or in automotive forums

If you think that you meet these requirements, please click here to submit your information and tell us why you think you would be a good candidate for a co-host.

A date is still pending for this event, and it will be determined in part by the availability and abundance of co-hosts. If you don’t think you’re right for the job, pass it on to your nearest auto-obsessed friend. He or she may just be the one we need!

~Michelle Naranjo, MissMotorMouth.com

Warning, objects in this episode of RoundAbout are somethinger than they appear.  Subaru turned to sumo wrestlers for its latest TV commercial in Canada, but the result is, perhaps, a bit cheekier (yes, pun intended) than it appears.  A French comedian created a real-life version of the popular Nintendo game Mario Kart and the result is more hilarious than you’d assume.  Find out which iPhone app you SHOULD NOT download because, once you think about it, it’s way creepier than a computer program should ever be.  Of course the RoAb crew covers a vast diversity of other topics in addition to these, which makes this episode of RoundAbout, #71, more informative than it appears based on the preceding paragraph.

Play RoundAbout Episode 71

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Featuring: Colin Bird, William Maley, Michelle Naranjo, Steven Ewing, Eric Trytko, Craig Cole and Ben Sanders

Show notes and Ustream video after the jump!

RoundAbout records LIVE on Fridays at 6:30PM ET/3:30PM PT. Visit RoundAboutShow.com and click Watch Live to watch our webcast and look in on all the antics.

continue reading »

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(Archived video after the jump below)

This week we’ll use the magic of the Internet to bring a little bit of Oregonian wisdom into our studio. Said wisdom will come from none other than friend of the show, Art Spinella, the President of CNW Research, who will join us via Skype. We’ll be asking Art about the latest gems of automotive insight to be unearthed from his research. We’ll also be getting into the news of the week including the chance that Bob Lutz could be headed back to GM as well as Roger Penske’s smart car debacle. John McElroy is joined in studio by the often imitated, but never duplicated Autoextremist, Peter De Lorenzo.

Thanks to our sponsors who make Autoline After Hours possible: Bridgestone, Chevrolet and Dow Automotive Systems.

Subscribe to the free podcast version of Autoline After Hours:

Thanks to our partners DrivenMavens.com, Rumblestrip.net and WardsAuto.com for embedding AAH!
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Runtime 1:51

The Fiat 500, or Cinquecento in Italian, is a small car . . . a really small car. The United States is a big country filled with big roads, big ideas and big people. It’s interesting Fiat decided to bring the 500 to the U.S. How well will such a tiny, city-sized car sell in America? Does it have what it takes to win the hearts and minds of potential buyers or is it destined to become another failed import? John McElroy shares his thoughts.

Runtime 4:04

The compact-car segment is really heating up. The Chevy Cruze is a solid offering and Hyundai’s redesigned Elantra is coming on strong. Not to be left out of the party, Ford is preparing to launch its all-new Focus for the 2012 model year. But how good is its latest C-segment offering? Watch to find out.

Special guest Mike Levine of PickupTrucks.com jumps feet-first into the RoundAbout this week for his first-ever appearance on the show.  Also on board are your favorite – and least favorite – regulars, ready to deliver installment No. 70, the “Indulgence” episode to your listening organs.  Up for discussion is a wide array of extravagant topics and news stories PLUS a Chicago Auto Show recap AND another installment of the ever-popular segment, “Meet Your Roadmates.”  Altogether this is not a show to miss, so please, join us for RoundAbout No. 70, the “Indulgence” episode.

Play RoundAbout Episode 70

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Featuring: Mike Levine, Michelle Naranjo, Jeffrey Ross, Steven Ewing, Eric Trytko, Craig Cole and Ben Sanders

Show notes and Ustream video after the jump!

RoundAbout records LIVE on Fridays at 6:30PM ET/3:30PM PT. Visit RoundAboutShow.com and click Watch Live to watch our webcast and look in on all the antics.

continue reading »

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This week we’re back with another episode of Autoline After Hours as well as one our audience’s all-time favorite guests. You asked for it, and now you’ve got it: the irrepressible, always knowledgeable Sandy Munro of Munro & Associates. He’ll tell us about a new material he’s working with called “covetic aluminum,” which could be a major manufacturing breakthrough. We’ll also see how much info we can get out of him about the top secret work he’s doing for Chrysler. But, don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of the week’s news to talk about as well. In particular, we’ve got a bone to pick with Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, who just won’t call unintended acceleration what it really is: driver error. Plus, we’ll get into the huge number of automotive Super Bowl commercials seen on Sunday’s game. Did they hit the mark? John McElroy is joined in studio by Gary Vasilash of Automotive Design & Production as well as the Autoextremist, Peter De Lorenzo.

Thanks to our sponsors who make Autoline After Hours possible: Bridgestone, Chevrolet and Dow Automotive Systems.

Subscribe to the free podcast version of Autoline After Hours:

Thanks to our partners MissMotorMouth.com, Rumblestrip.net and WardsAuto.com for embedding AAH!