Infact: How many cars do you own?

Scott: My family makes it our business to own all sorts of different cars... muscle cars, sports, smart, trucks. We're curious to see what they are all like, to play with them. We own three at a time and kind of cycle through them... we probably buy a new one each year.

Infact: Any motorcycles?

Scott: I've owned one, a Harley Davidson, but traded it in a while ago for family reasons. Great bike.

Infact: What makes are the current three cars?

Scott: One is a Dodge, a GMC (that's a GM truck for those of us who live a long way from Detroit!) and a Smart car. I just parted with an Alfa Romeo Spider.

Infact: How do you feel about them?

Scott: Well, I like them. We have vehicles in our household that fulfill different purposes. We tend to buy classics... no showing off. This is a blue collar, hard working, domestic market and flashy foreign cars are just not right here. Flashy cars don't cut it. So saying, I want to like my cars. They all fit their purpose and they are the perfect vehicles for those purposes. I feel responsible when I think about the cars I buy.

Infact: Any plans to buy a new one soon?

Scott: Yes. We're going to replace the Dodge in two weeks. I have no idea yet what we're going to buy though.

My favourite car until very recently was the 645 convertible, a BMW. But now it's the Audi A5, a great car... if I lived in Germany. I firmly believe you should buy domestic... so I hope our Motoresearch staff in Germany buy German, Japan buy Japanese and here we buy American.

Infact: Do you use public transport?

Scott: When travelling, all the time. When home, no. There basically isn't any public transport in Detroit. There should be. We do take cabs (are they public transport?!) when we go out drinking.

Infact: Do you ever walk or ride a bike to get to where you are going?

Scott: Yes, weather permitting, we walk anywhere that's within a mile or two. And we use bikes for social visits... to see friends or go to the park.

Infact: Describe your relationship with cars.

Scott: (Thinks) This is an important question so I want to get it right.

Cars make a significant statement about their drivers. I want my cars to say I am a savvy smart buyer who buys things that he likes, which also fulfill a purpose. I have enough sense to buy the right cars for what I need them for.

My day-to-day relationship with my cars is... I clean them, the family trashes them. I live with four women. What is it about women and cars?! I cycle through them. I clean one, it's taken out by my family and comes back trashed... just in time for me to have finished cleaning the next one...

Infact: Hey, not all women! I'm clean... now. Ok, I wasn't when I was a teenager. Mind you, my first driving lesson from my Dad was how to change a tyre, check oil and clean the car. I was so disappointed! I love that he did that now though.

Scott: That's a really great first lesson and part of an important trend in the way people manage their whole lives now. You have to start with managing the risk. It's all about risk reduction, putting yourself in control of your situation.

More and more people are feeling out of control because of cluttered lives, technology, busy-ness, stretched finances and on and on. We have a trends research team who are doing a lot of work on this.

So that type of mindset your Dad showed, learning the basics, is much more important to people now than it used to be. We now teach our kids about managing money, we teach them to look after things, the basics of car maintenance... and we hope that gives them, and us, a bit more control over our environment.

Infact: You've made cars a large part of your working life. How much a part of your non-working life are they?

Scott: A huge part. On an average weekend I spend eight hours driving. I had better be comfortable and in a car with nice features!

I have two 14 year olds and an 11 year old... they play football, tennis, golf, volleyball, plus have social engagements. I've driven three hours today and it's a workday. I left the office, picked up a kid, dropped her, picked up another kid, drove an hour and will have to wait to take her home again. That's why my Blackberry is very important... at least I can get stuff done.

I – and my car – am a tool in the raising of my children. Your kids can't take a bus to a remote basketball court or wherever...

Infact: Changing tack for a moment, can you give me your take on the automotive industry at the moment? What does it have to do to build business and stay a major force?

Scott: The auto industry is suffering from being an endurable goods industry... it moves slowly, the product cycle takes too long. The rest of the world moves very quickly. The industry is very complex (what other product is as complicated?) but it needs to get better at changing quickly. Legislation, the environment, the economy... all these things change fast so the auto industry needs to be more nimble and adapt to outside changes.

With the current economic crisis, every single car company in the world got caught. They didn't do anything wrong. There were just too few players with too much volume and no one could move fast.

There will be a sorting out of this. It's started. Soon, no one company will have too much global market share. Some companies will go away, big ones will get smaller, new competition will arrive. All this will make it a more flexible and responsive industry.

The big companies are too big, too consolidated. They will spin off brands and there will be a big correction... more players, more nimble, more competition.

The competition will come from new businesses too. India, China, South America... many emerging economies are producing vehicles. They'll get one or one-and-a-half percent of the global market. That's a great business.

All in all, the car industry is reinventing the way it does business. It's a complex and fascinating business to be in. Find me any other product that is so complex and that people love so much.

Infact: How do car companies build their brands again?

Scott: Slowly. Very deliberately. And with underlying value propositions. They have to get back to genuine value and then deliver it. Build the brand from there. People find out what a product really is, so you can't build a sporty brand if there's no power, you can't build luxury brands if the cars are anything less than sublime in their features, you can't build a family brand if it's not comfortable, efficient and convenient and so on.

Car companies need to understand why different people buy different cars and build their business around that.

Infact: How do they make owning a car an emotional thing for people? Do they need to?

Scott: It already is emotional. That does not have to be created. But car companies need to better capitalise on that emotion. They need to create meaningful and tangible experiences out of the emotions. After all, a car will be the second-largest purchase you make in your life.

Infact: Are there too many cars on the road?

Scott: No. Not yet. There will be.

Infact: Do you think cars and motorbikes should be more expensive to encourage people to take public transport or walk?

Scott: No, that's not the right control. Fuels and infrastructure can be more limiting though. I would not create an artificial economy. But people should probably pay more for fuel and circulation... access and tolls to keep the roads flowing. I like what London has done in its centre... by making people pay to take their cars there, they have made it a luxury to go into London with a vehicle.

Infact: How do we reconcile the role of the car when it's generally accepted that people all over the world need to reduce their carbon footprints?

Scott: If the primary goal in life is to reduce carbon footprint, then the vehicle is in trouble. But it's not. Of course we need to look at ways to do this but a vehicle is the glue that connects society in lots of places. It brings you your food. It brings goods and other things that people need. All brought together by vehicles.

Personal transportation is freedom. A vehicle is freedom... So we want to reduce the carbon footprint but do people want to be less free? Cars are still key to moving about the world.

Infact: What about Governments around the world... should they be bailing out their auto industries?

Scott: There is Government intervention in many places at the moment. And I think it's right in many cases, it depends how it's handled. The role of Government is to enable businesses to succeed... to make the economy succeed.

Infact: Our survey showed that Americans and Canadians were most against this... what do you make of that?

Scott: That's because they are among the most capitalistic nations in the world. People's opinions have not changed as quickly as the economy did!

Infact: What is the difference between someone owning a car in a developed country like Japan or the US, and someone owning a car in an emerging economy?

Scott: In an emerging economy, the person uses it much more as a statement of privilege... and eventually takes it for granted. In a developed country, most people see a car as their right, it's due to them.

We quickly become aspirational. When someone in a developing economy gets used to personal transport, there's no going back. So it becomes similar very quickly.

Infact: I know you cannot lump all emerging economies together. For example, when we asked people 'if money were no object, would you buy a green car or a dream car?', the two biggest emerging economies were at odds. China's answers heavily tended towards the green, and India's were only second to South Africa on buying the dream car. How can this be explained?

Scott: That's right. Culture plays a huge part in this. India is very aspirational. China is very pragmatic.

But also the understanding of 'green' is different from place to place. In China, green means clean air. In Europe it's about CO2. In India it's about air quality and water quality.

A practical example of why this matters is this... Europeans think diesel is green because it burns less CO2. Asians think it's dirty because they can see the plumes of smoke when it's burned. Car makers are on top of this but need to understand all the cultures and these factors as they change.

Segments of the worldwide population will be green, other are not. But many will evolve to be green when it comes to cars, over time and depending on the attributes of the cars available.

If car companies want to sell more green cars, they need to make green cars that tap into people's ideas of 'dream' cars too.

Infact: Where do you think the world's strongest 'car cultures' are? And what is a 'car culture'?

Scott: Firstly I think a car culture is engineering-oriented and tech-savvy and – on that basis – the biggest car cultures are Germany and Japan.

If you think of a car culture as love for the car, passion, look no further than the US.

Infact: How about you Scott? If money were no object, would you buy a green car or a dream car?

Scott: Both. Actually the real answer is that I will never buy my dream car... it would be too lavish and that's not who I am.

Infact: Do you ever look at friends' cars and wish you had them?

Scott: All the time! All my friends have nicer cars than me. But I take a certain amount of pride in dealing with that just fine and continuing to choose cars to meet the needs of my family.

Infact: Do you want your car to turn heads?

Scott: No. Maybe if I lived somewhere with flashy cars like Germany or Hong Kong, but not here in Detroit.

Infact: Do you ever get the chance to drive really fast? How does that make you feel?

Scott: Yes. I love it. We do tracks. And – if I am really honest – sometimes on the highways. I let it out. I love driving fast. We have wave runners... that's what we mostly use for speed.

Infact: Tell me about the strangest thing you've uncovered when researching car ownership over the years. Any cultural quirks?

Scott: I'm going to give you a research type of answer. There are cultures that are positive about everything. It fascinates me. They have such aspiration and hope and they always believe their dreams will come true. So in practical terms this means they tell you they will own a car (or whatever) and they believe it... they are talking from their hearts. But for many of these people, the dream will probably not come true. Still, they remain upbeat, happy and sure that it will. It's a research challenge, but something I find inspirational on a personal basis.

You can follow Scott's exploits on http://twitter.com/MillerCEOMotor