NY Auto Show: Future of the Automobile Panel

Wednesday afternoon, PSFK attended a panel discussion hosted by Newsweek discussing the future of the automobile. On the panel were (L to R) Henrik Fisker, CEO of the eco-friendly car company Fisker Automotive, Lou Rhodes, President of Chrysler’s electric vehicle group ENVI, and Kevin Smith, Editorial Director at Edmunds.com. The panel was moderated by Dan Lyons of Newsweek.

The discussion started with some speculation about what is going to happen to the automobile industry as a whole in the short term.

We’re going to see one of the most dramatic changes in the auto industry happen in the next 24 months. The American auto industry has operated as a 3 manufacturer, centralized industry for a long time. In many ways that has contributed to the slowness in reacting to the innovation that is happening in places like Europe and Japan. But because of emerging alternative technologies, small companies like Fisker now have a chance to evolve in the American market said Henrik Fisker.

What will the automotive landscape likely look like in 2020?

There will be plug-in hybrids that cost less than $20,000. At that point, at least half of all vehicles on the road will be plug-in hybrids. But in order for that to happen, we need a cleaner way to generate electricity in the US said Henrik Fisker.

Lou Rhodes was asked if Chrysler was moving towards being an all electric car company.

Chrysler’s outlook is more about offering another choice to consumers. But with electric vehicles there are some interesting things we could potentially do. In the future, cars could have the ability to be plugged into an information grid at the same time they are plugged into a charging grid. At this point the car becomes like any computer connected to the internet today. Diagnostic tools could be run on the vehicle, entertainment content could be loaded directly into the vehicle, basically you would get all the benefits of an online software upgrade.

The internal combustion engine isn’t going to disappear according to Kevin Smith.

We’re still going to be relying on the internal combustion engine and the infrastructure that supports it. There is also still a lot of headway to make in the development of higher efficient engines and clean diesels.

Has the era of the personal car come to an end?

Kevin Smith asked what the point of a personal car is? In basic terms it is a transportation appliance. But the desire has always been to have something special. Even when people rode horses, they still paid special attention the the quality of the saddle and what they wore when they rode. The automobile is a lot of different things to a lot of different people. There is no doubt going ahead we are going to see vehicles evolve.

Henrik Fisker talked about the connection people have to cars.

Cars are one of the most emotional objects humans make. And we spend an enormous amount of energy and money on their development. The new powertrains open up the opportunity to create different designs based on unique packaging of the components. Currently, everyone designs to the same tight packaging restrictions. That’s why so many cars look the same.

Lou Rhodes speculated the auto industry might need to look to the internet as a model for going forward.

This is the opportunity for the auto industry to be open source. Much like what has happened with web 2.0, auto manufacturers and suppliers need to form a better network. All the competitors need to find success because in the end, the consumer gets the best product choices.