U.S. Automakers Revival Plans Due Today

Ford, General Motors and Chrysler lobbied hard for a bailout of the U.S. auto industry last month and were firmly rebutted by congress, primarily for not having explicit plans to outline how they would use the money to turn their companies around.

Today is the due date for those plans and hundreds of thousands of people around the country, whose livelihoods are tied to the auto industry, are hoping they came up with something good. That remains to be seen.

Each CEO took a private plane to Washington D.C. for their previous meetings with congress and were chastised for that waste in the face of millions of dollars a month in losses. This time Ford’s CEO Alan Mulally will drive to new congressional hearings, taking place this week, in a Ford Escape Hybrid. Did he get the message or is it just good marketing? Probably a bit of both.