From NYTimes.com: Ford Says It Can Get By if Rivals Survive
If the company does access the loans, it said Mr. Mulally’s salary, which amounted to $21 million last year, would be reduced to $1 a year. Last month, when he and the chief executives from G.M. and Chrysler were asked whether they would be willing to eliminate their own pay, Mr. Mulally had been the most resistant.
The three men also had been criticized for flying corporate jets to Washington to ask for financial assistance. This week, Mr. Mulally plans to drive a Ford Escape hybrid sport-utility vehicle to Washington to testify a second time before Congress, and Ford said in its submission that it now plans to sell all five of its corporate jets.
This totally misses the point of what the criticism was about. If the CEO’s are coming to Washington to beg for public money, they should show that they understand that it’s not business as usual and show some frugality in their spending ways. Driving to Washington is a total publicity stunt.
I guess if all three CEO’s were carpooling in the same Ford Escape hybrid that might be a little better.
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“Ford is investing most where consumer growth is taking place — and that’s in highly fuel-efficient global small cars”
They see the light now, maybe a little too late. The subcompact Ford Fiesta won’t even be available in the U.S. until 2010.