Daily Auto News Obama's Auto Team Drives Imports
Daily Auto News
If you can tell a lot about a person from the car they drive, then GM and Chrysler may be in trouble. The task force that President Obama has put together to oversee government efforts to reform the American auto industry, it seems, is made up of people who drive foreign cars.
The Detroit News reports, “Among the eight members named Friday to the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry and the 10 senior policy aides who will assist them in their work, two own American models. Add the Treasury Department’s special adviser to the task force and the total jumps to three.” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who will co-chair the panel, drives a 2008 Acura TSX.
The TSX is a somewhat modest choice for Geithner. Yes, it’s a luxury car, but it costs less than $33,000 fully-equipped – not an ostentatious choice for a man who, according to Politico, “has a net worth of between $740,000 and $1.7 million.”
If Geithner’s choice is modest, then the wheels driven by the panel’s other co-chair, White House National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers, are downright embarassing. Summers received a salary of over $600,000 per year in his recent post as President of Harvard University, and was given a $2 million severance package when he left that job, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
His luxurious ride? A 1995 Mazda Protégé, according to the News.
Autoblog notes, “In total, only three members of ten-member panel drive vehicles built by the Detroit 3, while another three don’t own a vehicle at all.”
Other vehicles owned by panel members, according to Motor Trend, include a Toyota Prius, a Honda Oddysey, a Volvo S60 (one of our Worst Cars for the Money, we should note), and a Subary Legacy Outback Wagon.
On the whole, Kicking Tires comments, “these folks don’t seem to take many risks when it comes to buying cars for themselves.”
Enthusiasts may have a voice at the table. The gearheads at Jalopnik note that Vice President Joe Biden, who will have a seat on the panel, “owns a 1967 Corvette, which he probably puts few miles on given his love of Amtrak.” Another member of the task force may at least be riding to work with a gearhead. “Diana Farrell, the deputy National Economic Council director, is currently without a car but her husband has a 1985 Peugeot 505 S,” Jalopnik reports. This could mean one of two things. “If it’s the S Turbo we’re talking about a crazy gearhead.” If, on the other hand, it’s a diesel-powered base model 505 S, “we’re talking about someone who doesn’t want to part with an old car.”
Regardless of which Peugeot Farrell rides in, a Peugot fan probably isn’t who General Motors would like to see deciding the company’s fate. The lone GM vehicle owned by a council member – Commerce Department Senior Advisor Rick Wade’s 1998 Chevy Cavalier – suggests that the group might not be familiar with the best of America’s current automotive crop.
While they await the group’s decisions, automakers are looking to sell as many cars as possible, in most cases, with heavy discounts. Research the best car deals with U.S. News’ car rankings and reviews.
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