11 am: Ford says CEO will work for $1 to get government loans
DETROIT (AP) -- Ford Motor Co. will tell Congress that it plans to return to a pretax profit or break even in 2011 when its CEO appears before two legislative committees this week.
Also, CEO Alan Mulally said he'll work for $1 per year if the automaker has to take any government loan money.
The plan Ford is presenting to Congress this week also says it will cancel all management employees' 2009 bonuses and will not pay any merit increases for its North American salaried employees next year.
Other cost-cutting actions include a plan to sell Ford's five corporate aircraft, the company said.
Mulally said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday that Ford will emphasize its cost cutting efforts with the United Auto Workers union and will give much more detail to Congress than it did when lawmakers grilled the automakers' CEOs earlier this month.
The company said it also will accelerate plans to roll out electric vehicles as part of the plan it will present to Congress this week. The vehicles will come out starting in 2010 and include the Transit Connect small van and a car the size of the Ford Focus compact.
Mulally says Ford will seek $9 billion in government loans but may not need them. The Dearborn-based has said it has enough cash to make it through 2009 without assistance.
All three Detroit automakers are scheduled to appear before congressional committees Thursday and Friday to seek a total of $25 billion in government loans. Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp. have said they are perilously low on cash and need the government loans to survive the recession and the worst auto sales environment in 25 years.
Mulally also said he will encourage other automakers to join forces to develop new battery technologies in the U.S. for future electric cars.
An electric car and profitability are hallmarks of a plan Ford submitted to Congress Tuesday.
Ford's plans call for an investment of up to $14 billion to improve fuel efficiency over the next seven years. The company said would improve the overall efficiency of its fleet by an average of 14 percent in 2009.
The company's plans to achieve profitability or break even by 2011 are based on industrywide sales estimates of 12.5 million units in 2009, 14.5 million in 2010 and 15.5 million in 2011.
The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate dropped to 10.6 million vehicles in October.
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dennie67
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12-02-08 11:05 PM
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Can you believe how stupid these CEO"S are? To think that we all will fall for this. It's like the thief that got caught, Yeah! He's sorry! sorry he got caught.
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Dschweck
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12-02-08 3:14 PM
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I'll fish for food!
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SHERIFF102
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12-02-08 1:57 PM
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$1.00 a year salary house-------paid for utilities---paid for grounds keeping-----paid for food--------paid for car,gas/insurance/health care---paid for you have to get in line to get a job like that
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zipcityboy
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12-02-08 12:09 PM
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Sounds like a plan, finally. Why didn't the corporate crooks on Wall street have to come up with similar plans before they got their $700 billion one month and another $800 billion the next? Why haven't these greedy and incompetent CEOs also reduced their bloated income to a buck apiece (which is much more than they are worth)? They get over $1 trillion and the stock market continues its free fall and credit markets continue the deep freeze. Where's their plan? Or is it just to take our money (and children's children's...) and run?
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OutsideTheBox
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12-02-08 12:06 PM
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His paycheck may only say $1.00, but I am curious as to how much money he will get in CEO-only stock options? Just like RMI Metals - The owner only makes $1.00 per year, but makes $900 million in stock options.
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