Ford Accelerates Green Cars for Bailout

Hybrid and electric vehicles will be fast-tracked through Ford, according to plans for the company's bailout presentation. In a phone interview with the Wall Street Journal on Monday, Alan Mulally, chief executive of Ford, says that the company will accelerate development of hybrids and electric vehicles to 2011, with a plug-in hybrid following in 2012.

Said Ford Chairman William Ford Jr., "We want to come blasting out as a global, green, high-tech company that's exactly where the country and the Obama administration want us to head." Ford's recovery plan "isn't just about slashing -- we've already done that slashing and burning -- but about building for the future."

Auto executives were criticized for taking private jets to Washington for hearings last month. This time, they plan to drive hybrid cars to the hearings this week. Mulally will drive a Ford Escape hybrid, while GM's Rick Wagoner plans to drive a Chevy Malibu hybrid, accompanied by members of his group in Chevy Cobalt hybrids and a Buick Lucerne that will run on 85 percent ethanol.

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