CAR President and CEO Jay Baron has added the title of chairman.
Just as the auto industry is at a crossroads, so is one its major think tanks, the Center for Automotive Research.
Now, CAR will move forward with a new leader. CAR President and CEO Jay Baron will take on the the role of chairman, replacing the organization’s long-time leader, David Cole, who is now chairman emeritus. He said that the industry needs the research and direction that CAR provides.
“We are facing one of the greatest technological challenges every thrust upon an industry – to improve fuel economy,” Baron said.
He said that his plan is to grow the organization by as much as 25 percent so it can answer difficult questions such as what green jobs will look like in the future, whether Washington is making the right policy decisions for cars, how much will people pay for fuel economy, how to address safety and others.
CAR's long-time chairman David Cole is relinquishing that title, but will remain active with the organization.
One of Baron’s pet issues is lightweighting of vehicles. In fact, Baron told The Detroit Bureau in August that the case could be made that lightweighting could be more important than all of the current focus on fuel economy because while no one knows what powertrain technology will win out, making vehicles lighter will always help improve fuel economy.
“Lightweighting is as important as electrification,” Baron said.
Baron said the key to making vehicles lighter is getting suppliers of different materials to work together.
“We have launched a mixed-material coalition with steel, aluminum and plastics to help address this,” Baron said. “These materials’ industry sectors have conducted tremendous research over the years, now we have to optimally mix them into an affordable vehicle.”
CAR’s signature event is the Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City each August. The event is an opportunity for industry experts to learn about the latest technologies and share them with the world through the press.
Baron said the only changes to MBS will be that it will continue to evolve as it always has.
“It’s an interesting balance to stay contemporary in this electronic age while still providing the venue for person-to-person networking which the event is known for,” he said.
Baron said CAR is trying to get more involvement from the growing auto industries in countries such as China and India. He added that even though Cole’s role in CAR is now reduced, he is still likely to be at MBS, moderating sessions while spinning his usually mix of grandfatherly stories about his family.
Prior to becoming president of CAR, Baron was associate research scientist and manager of Manufacturing Systems with the Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, formerly headed by Cole. He also worked for Volkswagen of America in quality assurance and as a staff engineer and project manager at the Industrial Technology Institute in Ann Arbor and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Center for Manufacturing Productivity in Troy, N.Y.
Baron holds a doctorate and a master’s degree in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan and an master’s of business administration from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.