General Motors and Chrysler Head to Congress while Ford Pitches Obama

Correspondent Derek Armstrong

Ford Escape, first SUV hybridIn perhaps the best strategic move in the automotive crisis, William Ford of Ford has elected to meet behind the scenes with President Elect Obama. The tactic seems to be a sound one, considering it’s a certainly the future President Obama will help the industry, and Ford has nearly $19 billion on hand to mange self-sufficiently until at least the end of 2009, long after General Motors and Chrysler will run out of financial reserves.

The descendent of the great Henry Ford seems determined to play a key role in the rebuilding of the insolvent auto industry.

The strategy appears even more sound considering Ford is working with Governor Granholm of Michigan to push for a greener auto industry.

“One of the things that I feel very encouraged about is the president-elect and where he’d like to take this country in terms of energy, and I completely buy into his vision,” Mr. Ford said in Washington. Unlike General Motors and Chrysler, Ford is not asking for an immediate emergency bailout.

Unlike General Motors and Chrysler, Ford is not tottering on the brink of bankruptcy.

Mr. Ford shared his plans with Mr. Obama, then candidate for president, when he was in Lansing, Mich., for a speech on energy policy. “We talked about the electrification of our industry and other fuel-economy issues,” Mr. Ford said. “One of the things we need to sort out as a country is batteries. We really don’t want to trade one foreign dependency, oil, for another foreign dependency, batteries.” This statement seems aimed at the fact that most battery manufacturers are Asian.

Mr. Ford has been a very vocal environmentalist and has been pushing his company towards greener pastures, with the launch of hybrid vehicles, including the furst hybrid SUV.

Although the Ford family controls the automaker with its 70.85 million shares of Class B stock, the family has been hit with a devaluation of it’s wealth, with the shares worth only $101 million at current values.

Mr. Ford said his company wants to be able to access government loans, but only if the economy worsens. “I completely understand the frustration that Americans feel and it came out loud and clear this week,” he said. “I don’t think we told our story terribly well.”

The Correspondent— Derek Armstrong is the chief crime reporter for Crime Report USA, a contributor to Films & Books magazine, Deadly Prose magazine, EDI Weekly and an investigative journalist contributing to several newspapers. He is a frequent guest on CNN, NBC, and other networks, and the author of eight books, including the investigative true crime blockbuster Drew Peterson Exposed, the eternally popular Alban Bane crime thrillers MADicine and The Game, and the cult classic historical fantasy novels The Last Troubadour and The Last Quest (from Kunati Books).