Auto companies' trips, by the numbers
Posted: Thursday, December 04, 2008 5:47 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Congress
From NBC’s Frank Thorp
The heads of the Big Three lost the public relations battle the last time they were in town asking for bailout money. Congressmen attacked them for flying in on private jets -- and they didn’t even plane pool, so to speak.
So this time around, they drove to Washington, in hybrids no less.
But was that good for business?
Video: Newsweek’s Howard Fineman discusses the Big Three automakers’ plea for more bailout money and how some Congressmen weren’t too happy with them on Capitol Hill Thursday.
After talking to representatives from both Chrysler and GM and culling some details about the trips their CEOs took to DC this week, here is some math as to how much they might have spent (minus food).
One thing to think about is the amount of time that they wasted by driving. By turning what would be a 90-minute commercial flight into a 10-hour road-trip they are spending more than eight hours more on travel time.
Ford's Alan Mulally made $17 million in 2007 in salary and incentives, according to the Wall Street Journal. Broken down, that means he makes $1,940 an hour, which means the extra eight hours he spent on the road cost the company $15,525 -- one-way.
GM's Rick Wagoner made $3.8 million in 2007 ($443 per hour) in salary and incentives. Wagoner spending that extra eight hours on the road costs the company $3,531 one way.
Bob Nardelli has not disclosed how much he makes at Chrysler, but judging by the fact that he was making $25 million a year at Home Depot last year, his time is worth a bundle as well.
Chrysler: Nardelli made the trip over a two-day period. Leaving late in the evening on Tuesday, he stayed at a Holiday Inn in Youngstown, Ohio. According the Holiday Inn Web site, it's about $120 per night, per room. Assuming there were four of them each in their own room that's about $480 for the stay.
They drove a Chrysler Aspen Hybrid SUV, which gets 21 miles per gallon highway. (They could have driven a Chrysler Sebring which gets 30 MPG highway if they were trying to be really efficient). Nardelli came with a couple of other executives and did some of the driving as well.
-- Getting 21 MPG for 525 miles at $1.79 national average for a gallon of gas means they spent about $44.75 on gas for the trip.
-- On Wednesday, they stopped at a truck stop in Breezewood, Pa. That stop has a Dairy Queen, Dominoes and Subway, if they were feeling hungry.
Travel Expense Breakdown: $44.75 for gas + $480 for hotel rooms = $524.75
GM: GM CEO Rick Wagoner made a non-stop trip to D.C. yesterday, leaving Wednesday morning at 7:00 am ET and arriving just before 6:00 pm ET. Wagoner traveled in what you could call a fleet compared to Ford CEO Alan Mulally's trip, which used just one Ford Escape Hybrid. Wagoner took three cars, all of which he drove periodically throughout the 10 hour, 525 mile, trip:
-- A Chevy Malibu Hybrid (34 MPG-Highway: $27.64 in gas for the trip)
-- A Chevy Cobalt XFE (37 MPG-Highway: $25.40 in gas for the trip)
-- A Buick Lucerne E85 (an ethanol fueled car -- no fuel efficiency statistics released yet, so say about $25)
-- They went with five or six people total: Rick Wagoner, John Smith who is one of the top executives involved with putting together the plan for Congress some drivers and a security guard. ("They'll have plenty of time to talk," a GM rep said.)
-- While we know they made stops for food and to stretch, there were no specifics as to what kind of restaurants they ate in.
Travel Expense Breakdown: $78.04 for gas for all three cars
*** UPDATE *** Representatives from Ford pass along this response: "In your calculation of the cost of Mr. Mulally's trip, I would think it would be more accurate to use his 2008 compensation, since the trip didn't happen last year. His salary is $2 million and he is forgoing any performance bonus for 2008, as are all Ford executives and other salaried workers. Another point is that he was able to do some work on the trip when he wasn't driving, conducting media interviews, reviewing materials and so forth."
Points taken.
