Walter McManus

Dr. Walter S. McManus, an expert on alternative drive powertrains and automotive forecasting, is the head of UMTRI's Automotive Analysis Division. Dr. McManus is an economics research and analysis executive with a record of influential research and a history of leadership accomplishments. He is regularly invited to speak to industry, policy, and research organizations. He is widely cited as an authority on the automotive industry in the business and general media.

Prior to joining UMTRI, Dr. McManus worked at General Motors where he developed models to forecast vehicle sales, created visual information tools to stimulate new product development, and spent a year as a manufacturing supervisor in a component factory. He also conducted research on new automotive technologies and their impact on society and the environment, the market potential of hybrids and diesel-powered vehicles, and automotive product and brand portfolio strategies. He has also worked as executive director of forecasting and analytics at J.D. Power and Associates, where he developed a variety of forecasting auto sales models in most markets worldwide.

Dr. McManus earned a B.A. in economics from Louisiana State University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles. He was also a Sidney Stern Fellow and a Foundation for Research in Economics and Education Fellow. His fields of specialization were econometrics, industrial organization, and labor economics.