Episode details

World Service,12 Jan 2016,49 mins
US Car Industry Plots Further Growth at Detroit Auto Show
Big Boss InterviewAvailable for over a year
The US car industry has just finished a record year, with sales of almost 17.5 million vehicles. So how will the industry keep growing in 2016? At one of the first big events of the year, the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, General Motors unveiled a Chinese-made car to American buyers - much to the annoyance of American unions, who said it was a slap in the face of the tax-payers who bailed out GM after the financial crisis. And as the BBC's Michelle Fleury explains, electric cars are a big part of the growth plan. Tesla boss Elon Musk is talking up the prospect of self-driving electric cars. He's working on an app called Summon which does just that - calls the car out of the garage, closing the door behind it, and out to where you're waiting. Our technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones went to meet Mr Musk at the Tesla Design Studio in Hawthorne, California. India is trying to boost the number of tourists who visit the world's largest democracy. This year just over seven million came to see the sights in India and one area the country is trying to promote is cultural tourism. Rahul Tandon has been to one of India's largest tribal festivals in Nagaland to see how the tactic is working out. We discuss whether so-called "fair share fees" should be paid by teachers who aren't members of a union in California, as the case is heard by the US Supreme Court. And Lucy Kellaway of The Financial Times announces the winners of her yearly awards for the worst of garbled corporate speak. All this and more discussed with our guests on either side of the Pacific. Diana Furchtgott-Roth in Washington DC, is Director of Economics21 at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. David Moser is Academic Director at the CET Chinese Studies programme at Beijing Capital Normal University. (Photo: The Buick Avista Concept car is revealed to the press on the eve of the 2016 Detroit Auto Show. Credit: Getty Images)
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