Auto industry planning car pool to Washington (For real!!!))

Spectre

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Apparently, the Big Three's been thinking about what they did wrong in the last begging session, and their solution is, apparently, to carpool to Washington next time... what a waste of time. Just declare bankruptcy and get it over with.

From http://townhall.com/news/business/2008/11/24/auto_industry_planning_car_pool_to_washington

Auto industry planning car pool to Washington
By TOM KRISHER



After being skewered by Congress and lampooned on NBC's "Saturday Night Live," the CEOs of Detroit's three automakers may end up making their return trip to Washington by car as they seek a federal bailout.

The Detroit area's auto industry, whose livelihood depends on the health of Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. spent the weekend e-mailing and discussing how to set up a giant car caravan to seek help from Congress.

What's for certain is GM CEO Rick Wagoner won't be going to Washington by corporate jet, although the company's policy is not to comment on executive travel plans for security reasons, said spokesman Tony Cervone. A Chrysler spokeswoman wouldn't comment on executive travel plans, and a message was left for a Ford spokesman.

The carpool idea came out of meetings on Friday at Dura Automotive Systems Inc., an auto parts maker in suburban Rochester Hills. President and CEO Tim Leuliette said that during the weekend they contacted the automakers, suppliers, dealership groups and the United Auto Workers and the movement began building.

"The proper people are talking to the proper people, and things are getting put together," said Leuliette. "This really picked up momentum over the weekend."

Industry representatives want Congress to see not just three CEOs in suits during the hearings, but the many people dependent on the automakers for their livelihoods, Leuliette said.

"Quite honestly, this is about America," he said. "This is a process of people's lives being affected, and sometimes they don't know how to put a voice to those concerns."

The movement comes after last week's disastrous hearings in front of two Congressional committees. Ford CEO Alan Mulally, Chrysler LLC CEO Robert Nardelli and GM's Wagoner traveled to Washington on separate corporate jets to seek $25 billion in government loans to help them make it through the worst U.S. auto sales downturn in 25 years.

Congress, though, abandoned a vote on the bailout after the appearances in which the automakers were criticized for lavish corporate travel, as well as for having poor business plans and high labor costs that some members said would keep them from being competitive with Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co.

Many of the CEOs' answers were vague, and it appeared as though they had no specific plan to change the way they do business in order to justify the bailout. Lawmakers have demanded restructuring plans by Dec. 2, with hearings to follow.

The automakers say they need the loans to help them survive the worst sales environment in more than 25 years. GM and Chrysler said that without the loans, they soon will be in danger of running so low on cash that they can't pay all of their bills. Ford is in better shape because it borrowed billions last year to help weather an economic downturn.

The CEOs' trip to Washington went so poorly that "Saturday Night Live," in a sketch about the next round of hearings, showed Wagoner presenting a schedule of billions in government payments without an accompanying business plan to justify the money.

Leuliette, whose company makes shifter systems, seating controls, safety gear and other items for nearly all automakers, said an automotive car caravan could help show the industry in a better light.

"All of them would say in hindsight they should have been better prepared or prepared in a different way," he said of the CEOs.

Detroit's car makers employ nearly a quarter-million workers, and more than 730,000 other workers produce materials and parts that go into cars. If just one of the automakers declared bankruptcy, some estimates put U.S. job losses next year as high as 2.5 million.

"We want to let people know that we're a part of this country, and a huge part of this country," said Detroit-area car dealer Carl Galeana, who last year was senior co-chairman of Detroit's auto show.

Detroit - once again drawing the wrong conclusions from failure.
 
I'd love to know what they're traveling by.




And where it breaks down along the way.
 
Yeah... they seem to think the problem was the fact that they went in corporate jets rather than the fact that they didn't have coherent recovery plans....


I'd like to know what route they're taking as well - so I can hire some people to stand by the road with abusive signs.
 
Stretched Chrysler 300C?
 
I wonder what business jets they took the first time around. Was it a Hondajet?

hondajet.jpg
 
I'd be willing to bet that it won't be one of their mainstreamer/family or economy cars.
 
It was a joke, I swear! :lol:

Heh. It's the Dumbass Three - someone probably read it, and just like the square steering wheel on the Austin Allegro, found that everyone else at the company thought it was a good idea.
:lol:

I wonder what business jets they took the first time around. Was it a Hondajet?

hondajet.jpg

HondaJets aren't being delivered yet, so it was probably a Gulfstream or BBJ, something like that.

That said, Honda's reputation and the prototype are such that they have orders coming out the ass for them. If you place an order today, your HondaJet will be delivered sometime in 2014, IIRC. First deliveries are expected in late 09, to give you an idea of how backordered they are.

Honda is laughing their ass off, all the way to the bank.
 
Yeah... they seem to think the problem was the fact that they went in corporate jets rather than the fact that they didn't have coherent recovery plans...
In their defense, the jets thing was all anyone seemed to care about on their last trip.
 
In their defense, the jets thing was all anyone seemed to care about on their last trip.

True, but considering that they're going to need a plan to get money, "not flying jets to Congress" isn't going to do the trick. Perhaps they should spend time constructing a plan rather than planning a convoy.

Besides which, they should have responded to the jets crack with, "Yes, we came by private jet... just like most of you Senators on the Committee, except tax dollars didn't pay for OUR flights."

(Psst: Nancy Pelosi's private jet flights to and from San Francisco cost the US taxpayer about $5.7M per year...)
 
Besides which, they should have responded to the jets crack with, "Yes, we came by private jet... just like most of you Senators on the Committee, except tax dollars didn't pay for OUR flights."
While that would have won my wisecracking ass over, it probably wouldn't have gone well at the time. :lol:
 
I wonder if they end up screwing up again by showing up in Cadillac, Lincoln and 300C Stretch Limos. On the other hand, Wagoner will likely want to show off GM's best car and will make his presence known by doing a smoky burnout in a ZR-1 at the foot of the steps of the capitol. I wonder which would be worse, actually.
 
Well, I'd save the smoky burnout until after the session. Then he could either do one to celebrate, or do an even bigger one to say F**K YOU.
 
These guys are making me feel fucking retarded and bad about the industry. Idiots.
 
What they should do is to create a plan to save one automotive giant, and then give each of these executives $100 to buy a car which has to be from their own group. The first one to reach Washington gets to save their company. Along the way, they will be set a series of stupid challenges to which useless points will be rewarded and by the end the three bigwigs will have become great friends. Hilarity ensued!
 
What they should do is to create a plan to save one automotive giant, and then give each of these executives $100 to buy a car which has to be from their own group. The first one to reach Washington gets to save their company. Along the way, they will be set a series of stupid challenges to which useless points will be rewarded and by the end the three bigwigs will have become great friends. Hilarity ensued!

Brilliant. :thumbsup:

Obviously the losing two would have to watch while their car is burnt to a crisp by a fire breathing dino-truck with TOYOTA on the side.... Followed by their factory.
 
Alright, now it's just a gimmick. And carpool my ass, the article says that they're "discussing how to set up a giant car caravan". I hope Mulally drives his Lexus.

I hope Wagoner can pull his head out of his ass for the day and come up with a solid restructuring plan.
 
What else should they do for their 1st season?

http://img296.imageshack.**/img296/7242/flopgearte2.gif
 
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