Hey Mulally, bring spare parts. A Ford usually don’t go that far without breaking down.

Hey Alan, don’t forget your sanitized seat wipes for the truck stop restrooms!

Is Mulally driving his Lexus LS? Didn’t he stated publicly that he would continue to drive his Lexus LS430 until such time as Ford built a car comparable to the Lexus?

he could drive the new lincoln umm mkz or at least the new mks and show that off while there too.

AnonymousCoward?

My father’s Focus ran for, ooh, say, 28,000 miles before the first problem, which was just wear n tear on bushes.

Well, if they build 4 million passenger cars per year, you should be able to find some that works…

To Ford’s credit, I owned an ‘03 Focus SVT that I drove for 75,000 miles without incident, through 4 hard WV winters, at which time I traded the car (for more than its book value!) so I could get a vehicle to suit my changing needs. I really can’t gripe about Ford – that was one of the better cars I’ve owned.

Ford POS. Alan should be driving a Mercury or Ford, if he drives a Lexus, he’s a turn coat! Hey Alan, why should we bail your a$$ out? It’s called natural selection, companies don’t do well die, that’s just the way it is = business. Why should the guys on here and I have to pay for your failure?!?!?!?

You guys all realize he got rid of his Lexus two years ago?

“It’s called natural selection, companies don’t do well die, that’s just the way it is = business”

*cough*Citibank*cough*

At least you’ll get something back from the D3 (D2?) if you invest in their survival. $1.5B you’ve dumped into the Banks, now, and they’re not lending ANY of it. Talk about a waste of cash.

I bet he drives a new Fusion Hybrid.

Zero chance he drives an Expedition (although they should have plenty sitting around).

He is paid alot of $ to sit in a car for a day. Waste of the companies money to have an executive not doing anything for that long.

Oh wait he’s now making a buck so put him on a greyhound bus.

This is the same bull**** as people who put flags and ribbons on their cars after 9/11. They put them on there for a couple of weeks, then got rid of them. Same with this. The real problem is the system and their products; not the fact that they have private jets. A lot of big companies have private jets. Who cares? Just build a better product, reduce waste, and develop a plan for the future. America isn’t asking much…

The congress delayed the hearings until Thursday because Mulally called and said it’ll take him that long to get there.

AnonymousCoward, but of course, I think you must be referring to American Fords… old Brit Fords have crap reliablity, but the new ones are excellent overall… Another thing Ford over there needs to brush up on

i really dont understand why ford would publicize this… i think it would have made a much much deeper statement if nobody knew they were going to do it and when they were all expecting a private jet, pissing and moaning about it, they all pull up in one of their cars. SURPRISE! now its just a big played out stunt before its even happened.
yeah my dads 2001 sport trac has 210,000 miles on it and its still going…

+1 to HoosierHero

i don’t see how this means anything. wow he is going to drive his car there this time but i bet he will use his jet next time after the bailout. if i were the gov, i would make them walk to the meeting and make them resign

Guys… he’s been CEO for 2 years. It’s not like he single-handedly drove Ford into the ground. On the other hand, Wagoner has been fumbling around GM since the early 1990’s. He should be the one to go, not necessarily Mulally or Nardelli who have successfully lead large companies in the past (Boeing & Home Depot).

@kingofjericho, Nardelli was the worst CEO in Home Depot’s history and received one the largest golden parachutes ($210,000,000) for accomplishing a ****ty job. Better check your facts. Nardelli was trained in the Jack Welch fashion which is screw everyone first before they try to screw you. (Where’s GE today?)

Wagoner has announced that he will be driving a Chevrolet Malibu to DC.

This is all BS, it’s all dog and pony show. They go to Washington to show them a “plan”, when or if they get the money, they’ll fall back into the same BS which got them into in the first place. Only thing needs to change is build better cars and people will come back and buy them. The bailout is just a band aid, they need to get to the source of the problem = their cars!

@ pmpvtkc, I agree to a degree with your statement, but nothing like having the CEO of a company actually drive the company’s product in the manner that it was designed while seeing America at the same time. People respond to that as it shows a humility that is commonly lacking in upper-execs today. I Can’t help but think that if Mulally and Wagoner drive these automobile for the distance they intend that they will report back to those who designed the automobiles on what they felt worked and didn’t work for them; this is all good.

What has happened to Home Depot since he left? He took over Home Depot AFTER their extremely rapid expansion which explains why the stock did not perform like Lowe’s which was in the beginning stages of their rapid expansion. What did you want him to do, double the number of store fronts and drive costs through the roof?

@ kingofjericho, Nardelli was disliked by so many Home Depot employee on so many level and at so many levels it was pathetic. If you study the mo that ex-GE upper-execs utilize after leaving GE there is always a pattern and the basis of the pattern is to secure themselves money through contracts and through bringing in their cohorts in strategic departments that ensures their money train no matter what. They are not about business—they are about themselves.

pimpvtec “Only thing needs to change is build better cars and people will come back and buy them.”

I’m not surprised, seeing your handle, that you have no idea how much has changed in Ford and GM’s lineup in the last two years and more.

Statements like this, “Just build a better product, reduce waste, and develop a plan for the future. America isn’t asking much…”, make me shake my head. (sarcasm)It sounds so easy.(/sarcasm)

Really, where are these people coming from? Don’t pretend like you know the efforts and sacrifices of the D3, and then show absolute ignorance by making it sound like they’ve been playing shuffle-board whilst the ship sinks. Landmark Union deals (though not enough), selling off all available stocks, putting brands up for sale and selling others, closing factories, idling plants, laying off thousands at a time, and yes, even sacrificing pay (this is the second time Wagoner has taken a heavy pay cut since GM was surpassed by Toyota). All this and they’re not cutting funding for new, much needed product. Unlike the financial institutions in the US and Canada who got a free ride, these guys are actually working hard to turn things around and save the industry.

This is quite fitting. I see it as punishment for them to ride in their own piece of **** cars. We can only hope that this ride will have a lasting impression and spur them to produce better vehicles.

macabre, POS cars? The Escape is the best Hybrid SUV on the planet, and the Malibu won COTY.
http://www.chevrolet.com/2009malibu/comparison/awards/

oldraven- that’s all well and good, but where were the Big 3 5 years ago? That’s right- they were pumping out over-sized SUVs and nothing more. They could have cared less about development. You want a super-sized Expedition no problem! Now that the market has quickly changed they are singing a different tune. But only because they have to! Companies like Honda, who saw a need for small, efficient cars have benefited. I’m serious (to a point) about my statements above. These companies employ tons of analysts and business people all over the place. Either they weren’t doing their job or the leadership didn’t have foresight. Either way it’s hurt their business the same as any other business in any other industry. The Big 3 raked it in for a long time and now are suffering the consequences for their missteps.

That being said, I like Ford’s direction with their product lines…

HoosierHero-

You have been reading/commenting on this site for too long to be so disingenuous! You KNOW you have read many articles on Leftlane that point out that Honda and Toyota were both lusting after “over-sided SUV” sales and that they only reason they were so late to market is that they had trouble making ones to compete with the American SUVs. Honda and Toyota’s plodding, NOT FORESIGHT, saved them from the much of the debacle of the D3 companies, but not all of it. We have all witnessed the articles that point out how Toyota has had to idle their workforce and idle their truck-producing plants in the U.S. Does that sound like foresight or a company caught with their pants down just like the D3 companies? Face it, it was timing and you are smart enough to know it. And while I am at it, do I may as well reiterate the point made by other posters. Many of the American trucks and SUVs get BETTER MILEAGE THAN THEIR EQUIVALENT HONDA AND JAPANESE COUNTERPARTS.

So, HoosierHero, for your argument to work you would have to say that Ford and GM were wrong to make money on SUVs and trucks when they did AND that Honda and Toyota never started producing SUVs and Trucks (two things, which I think most of us reject).

Subtract the inappropriate “do” and it should have read “HONDA AND TOYOTA” in the rant section. Sorry for the poor spellchecking folks.

Lion- I’m not saying that making money on SUVs and trucks is wrong. What’s wrong is their expected sales figures and what they based sales on in regards to their product lines. True- Honda and Toyota both introduced larger products to compete, but unlike the B3 did not base their business on them. Honda and Toyota both are about their mid-size cars. How long did Ford, for example, expect to sell 10k a month of old body on frame vehicles like the Explorer when crossovers were becoming the rage? They saw what the Pilot and Highlander were achieving. Why didn’t they adjust and focus more on their smaller products? And I will agree that many American vehicles get as good if not better gas mileage then their Japanese counterparts. I wonder with gas going back down, is Detroit revving up their SUV’s again??

HoosierHero-

If your intent is to pressure the D3 and to remind them of the inherent frailty of the SUV and truck markets then I will trouble you no more. They obviously do need a reminder that they cannot forsake the smaller vehicle segments just because they have smaller margins of profit. However, there is something lost in all this debate and that is that we, the consumers, bear some responsibility for the D3’s current plight AND that we NEED them. Consumers demanded trucks and SUVs. You cannot blame a company for supplying them. All things being equal, when that consumer desire ends, the companies who did not prepare for it should disappear. The problem we are in; however, is that we need the D3 both for our economy and our defense industry. Moreover, the D3 did their best to catch up to the imports in terms of small vehicles. We all know it takes 5 or so years to bring a car to market. So, things like the new Malibu (car of the year winner) were conceived back in 2003 when SUV and Truck sales were just starting to show cracks.

The Asian and European manufacturers did not base their business on SUVs and trucks, but I still believe that had more to do with luck of timing than foresight. As many have noted, the Asian and European companies WISHED they had had the foresight to see the explosion in SUV and truck sales in the 1990s and early 2000s. Look, what I am really getting at is that hindsight is 20/20 and unlike many posters here I do not see the Asian and European manufacturers as having some great sage wisdom that helped them avoid the current downfall of the D3; but, rather tremendous luck in timing. Since we need the D3 to survive, I just do not see the point in tearing them down all the time, especially when they have made efforts that show they have been working to correct a problem in their lineups for at least 5 years.

The best cars for the job..

Fords CEO needs to pull out JFK’s old ‘61 Lincoln Continental Limo from the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. He’s going to get his head blown off anyway, so why not do it in style with the appropriate car?

GM – A modern gm car such as one with 2 seats, 7000cc V8 16 valve push rod engined ox cart inspired leaf spring suspension finished with a plastic body.

Chysler – hearse

I can see headlines: auto executive drove himself off the rode during incumbent weather conditions. I don’t think this it is a good idea to let those rat ass bastards on public roads. They’ve been driven most of their adult life and may not remember go pedal from brake pedal. Someone may get hurt (not them, I frankly don’t give rat’s ass about them).

In regards to the comments that the foreign car manufacturers lacked the foresight to build or develop full size trucks. There were extremely disproportionate tariffs placed on the import of such trucks into the US. We have to remember that when Honda, Toyota and Subaru first came into the American market, ALL of their vehicles were being produced in Japan. They had to be shipped to the US. A section of an article concerning how the Subaru BRAT tried to circumvent the tariffs states::

“American versions of the BRAT also had carpeting and welded-in jumpseats in the cargo area that served to reduce import duties. Although the Brat could fairly be called a truck, the seats in the cargo bed allowed Subaru to designate the BRAT as a passenger car. Passenger cars imported into the US were charged only a 2.5% tariff, compared to the 25% charged on trucks.”

With the US Government (I am sure at the insistence of the Big 3) charging a 25% tariff on the import of trucks, the foreign builders really had no choice but to decide NOT to build trucks until they could produce them in the US to avoid the tariffs. The Big 3 knew that full size trucks were their bread and butter money makers, so this tariff saved their hides for the time being. You also need to take into account, that these foreign car makers were experienced developing and producing 4 cylinder engines. To develop the type of 8 cylinder engine needed for a full size pickup or SUV takes years of development.

Lion- You make some good points. Obviously I can’t say if the imports just missed the boat or not on the SUV craze, but I will agree that either way the Big 3 are a large part of our economy. I just hope that any monetary help given will bring about positive changes in the industry. I like that senators are asking questions of the Big 3 and their plans unlike the $700B windfall that the mortgage industry got without questions. After all, these companies are still businesses that have to answer to their stockholders (and to the American public if they go begging for our tax dollars!).

Hoosier, Have you ever been in a Honda Pilot? It’s physically larger than a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

I own a Highlander which is similar. Isn’t the Cherokee BOF?

And Oddglat, when have you ever seen an Ox-cart with a transverse leaf spring? It’s not a leaf spring, like you’re thinking. It’s actually much more compact, light, and affordable than a traditional Macpherson or Coil-over setup. It obviously does a hell of a job, too.

Yes, it is BOF. But it’s still smaller than a Pilot. Size is the issue here, not construction, right? Or are we arguing about something new, now?

We were never arguing, but the fuel economy is the point I think. My 2006 Highlander is rated at 19/25 while a 2008 Explorer is rated at 14/20 on the V6. Most crossovers benefit from better fuel economy than their SUV brethren with the comfort and convenience of a car. It’s the continued investment in SUV’s that was being questioned.

Mullally came to Ford from Boeing. He didn’t move from Seattle when he got the Ford job. He goes back to Seattle several times a month.

Do ya think he’s going to make that trip by driving? I’m sure we’ll still see the Ford corporate jet on the ground in Seattle multiple times every month.

What we’re seeing today is just a PR stunt.