advantage of a loan from the department of energy, through the atvm program, it allows us to make those moves much faster than we otherwise would be able to. once -- without a loan from d.o.e., we probably have to go into production, be in production for five to eight years, to be able to generate enough retain earnings to be able to make that kind of investments. so the issue is one of timing, not one of desire or intent. >> washington, ben, you're on the air with phil murtaugh. >> caller: good morning. i'm an electrical engineer and an advocate for the electric cars, but people have brought up the current infrastructure of the grid. one of the other things that hasn't been addressed is the fact that currently our roads and bridges are supported primarily through funding from taxes on fuel. and electric vehicles themselves don't have a direct tax system. so how do you propose that we meet this need? >> i think that we all have seen that tax policy has changed over the years to suit the existing demands at those periods of times. as the industry changes, as the economy changes, tax policy will change to be able to come up with sufficient funding for the critical national n

from james parker. guest: we did not take the government assistance when it came to what you would call the bailout money. we have taken the d.o.e. loans fuel economy, which is something we applied for early on when we knew that you economy standards were becoming ever more challenging. ford was one of the few companies approved, as well as tesla and nissan. we have gotten the money in order to be able to invest in changing our plants over. as far as bailout money, no. ford was able to do it on their own. host: next call from new york city for susan cischke. caller: ford makes a great corporate i just bought a brand new ford -- makes a great car. i just bought a new ford escape. my next car will be a mustang. hopefully when we get a new president, i can afford to buy one. i just want to tell you that ford -- keep making them great cars. i used to buy gm. ever since they took the government bailout money, i went to ford. i love my ford. guest: thank you very much. that was terrific. host: susan cischke, we are looking at some of the cars you have on display at the auto show, such as the ford fusion. we looked at a focus. we saw the must