Mulally suggests sales might have slowed with the economy

“We’re very pleased that the attention is being put on fiscal and monetary policy to continue this expansion,” he said. 

Mulally spoke briefly with reporters following talks with lawmakers on Capitol Hill — about a dozen House Republican freshmen, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Michigan Rep. John Dingell (D) — along with White House aides, including Bill Daley, the White House chief of staff and senior adviser David Plouffe.

Car and truck sales for May are expected to start rolling in on Wednesday and initial estimates are predicting a decline. 

As the only one of Detroit’s “Big Three” automakers that didn’t need a federal bailout, Mulally said Tuesday he “didn’t regret” helping rival companies General Motors and Chrysler avoid failure and find their footing in the market again. 

On May 24, Chrysler repaid $7.5 billion its 2009 bailout loans to the Canadian and U.S. governments. Both governments still own stock in Chrysler, which is now owned by Fiat. 

The company borrowed $5.1 billion from the U.S. government and $1.6 billion from Canada.

Mulally also outlined his stance on the Obama administration’s effort to set fuel-economy standards for cars and light trucks for the years 2017 to 2025. 

He said talks have focused less on a number and more on getting all stakeholders involved to reach a national standards that can be applied across all states. 

That process produced a “very good, attainable, realistic fuel mileage improvement.” he said. 

The administration is looking at targets that could lead to a U.S. fleetwide average of between 47 miles per gallon and 62 mpg, with environmental groups pushing for a target on the higher end.