Goodbye, jets: Ford CEO will make trip to D.C. in a car

Forget the corporate jets.

When the Big Three automakers come back to Washington for hearings later this week on the proposed auto bailout, Ford CEO Alan Mulally will be making the more than eight-hour trip from Detroit to the Capitol by car, the company said today. The company won’t say yet, however, what kind of car Mulally will take (a Ford F-150 pickup truck or a Ford Focus compact car?), whether he will be behind the wheel, or when he will arrive: “It depends on traffic,” says a spokesperson.

The other automakers, General Motors and Chrysler, haven’t yet said what the plans are for their top executives, but Ford’s announcement will make it nearly impossible for them to fly to Washington without facing blistering criticism. A General Motors official said GM CEO Rick Wagoner will definitely not be using the company’s airplane, but did not offer an alternative transportation plan, whether commercial jet, train, or car. The Big Three face Senate hearings Thursday and House hearings on Friday to discuss the details of their plans for the bailout money, which all three companies are expected to release tomorrow.

When they testified on Capitol Hill last month, the executives were widely ridiculed for flying three separate corporate jets to Washington even as they were begging for a $25 billion bailout from taxpayers.