By Jim Meachen
MotorwayAmerica Editor

(December 2009) This is the time of year virtually everyone who has a newspaper or magazine column or access to the worldwide web will make some type of predictions for the coming year. Tiger won't win a major. George Clooney will win an Oscar. The Cubs will not win the World Series. The Yankees will not repeat. Fast food's $1 menu items will increase.

Predictions are easy. Accurate predictions are hard.

Accurate or not, we will make a few auto industry predictions of our own. We won't be any more right or any more wrong than the next guy or gal. But they are entertaining and thought-provoking. Perhaps argument provoking.

Here are a few:

 • Sales of full-sized pickup trucks and large sport utility vehicles will rebound in 2010. If gas prices stay under an average of $3.25 a gallon, and barring a worldwide calamity such as war in the Middle East, we think gas prices will remain reasonable for the next 12 months.

 • That being the case, hybrids, sub-compacts and fuel-efficient compacts will gain little market share in 2010.

 • Electric cars are now entering the market and appear to be all the rage. But an electric car revolution is years off. The cost of an electric car is too high for the average Joe and its practicality too low to become anything close to mainstream anytime soon.

A vehicle that can only go 100 to 150 miles between charges is impractical except as a second or third car for motoring around town. The electric charging infrastructure is in its infancy meaning most electrics will have to be recharged at home.

But we will mark 2010 as the start of the electric era.

 • All vehicles will continue gaining in fuel efficiency. A new era of turbocharging will truly begin in 2010 as manufactures seek to give customers the performance they demand, but from smaller engines, while yielding gas mileage necessary to meet future government standards.

 • Hyundai/Kia will continue to gain market share with a slew of new, stylish and interesting vehicles. Likewise, there will be no fall off of Subaru's impressive sales numbers.

 • Toyota will right the ship and make a small profit in 2010 for the first time in three years.

 • Ford will continue to gain market share around the world with such cutting-edge products as the Fiesta. Ford's new EcoBoost 4-cylinder engine will breath new life — and new performance — into its smaller vehicles.

 • General Motors' sales will increase in 2010 and the general will hold its current market share with the continued release of new, well-made and interestingly designed vehicles. But GM's overall direction remains a big question with its current management situation. It will be easy for them to stumble early in the next decade.

 • It's likely Chrysler as we know it may not be around by the end of 2010. At the least, it will see a continued erosion in sales and market share. It has too few interesting vehicles, too few fuel-efficient products and little in the development pipeline. Fiat doesn't have the stuff to rescue the automaker.

 • U.S. auto sales will increase, topping 11 million in 2010. But that's still a far cry from the 16-to-17 million annual sales during the first half of the decade. Until the economy recovers and unemployment is cut in half, people will hold on to their cars longer.