These Automotive CEOs Would Make The Best Road Trip Companions, According To Our Readers

Road trips are great, but one unfortunate downside of choosing to spend long hours in a cramped box is that there’s no guarantee your real-life buddies make good road trip buddies. Until you finish loading the car and hit the road for the first time together, you just can’t know whether or not their road trip habits mesh with yours. Heck, for all you know, your favorite person in the entire world could be the road trip companion from hell. Some might even say that’s half the fun! (They’re wrong.)

So when we asked you which automotive CEO would make the best road trip companion, we weren’t just asking which one is your favorite or who sound interesting to talk to. You had to take bladder strength and stop frequency into account, as well as temperature preferences, dining and snack choices, whether or not they’d eat in the car, how big a mess they’d make if they did eat in the car, how much driving they’d want to do, whether or not they snore while they’re napping, which music and podcasts they’d want to listen to, and so much more. You’ve got a lot of criteria to consider when choosing a road trip companion. 

Or at least you did in theory. In reality, everyone had their own reasons to choose the CEO they picked, and for some reason, I didn’t see a whole lot of, “He seems like he wouldn’t stink up the car with his nasty farts.” But just because your reasons weren’t all purely focused on the practical side of road tripping, that doesn’t make them any less valid. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular answers and see who made the cut.

Elon Musk, not because I would want to spend time with the guy, but I figured I’d take one for the team and distract him for a few days and keep him off of Twitter X.

Suggested by: SnakeJG

The ghost of Sergio Marchionne. He predicted consolidation and hard times for many mainline automakers roughly 15 years ago. I would like his thoughts on recent issues, specifically policy changes forced upon the industry, resulting in global financial problems. .

Suggested by: Frank C.

Bob Lutz. I’m sure he would be good for a lot of stories.

Suggested by: Joe Stricker

As someone who majored in chemistry in college, I’m going with Peter Wheeler. Wheeler was a chemical engineer who eventually owned TVR from 1981 to 2004. We would have conversations about science and fast cars – the perfect combination.

Suggested by: Giantsgiants

Akio Toyoda, but more specifically, his alter ego, Morizo. Throw is in a Lexus LC, and let’s hit some switchbacks!

Suggested by: Michael Almeida

Bob Eaton. What that guy did at Chrysler, bringing in Gale and ridding the company of the archaic Iacocca thinking and designs took some brass ones. I respect CEOs that are willing to take chances like that as the cab-forward design was both risky and gutsy, especially knowing that the average Chrysler buyer’s age was trending upward and might not want something that radical. The thinking at that time was that the current Boomers had already gone to the Japanese, or owned a Taurus, and Chrysler was going to be selling square boxes on wheels for even longer. Eaton let Gale run wild and we got the LH cars, Dodge Ram, Neon, the Cloud cars, radically redone minivans, and the Prowler. And Eaton was always praising his team, and especially Gale, on what they accomplished.

Can’t give him the Viper though – that started under Iacocca’s watch. I’m no Iacocca fan at all, and part of that was set when he made it very public that he hated the Viper, didn’t see a reason for it at all, and tried to stop it. And then when it started getting all kinds of crazy positive press and praise, he jumped into it with both feet beaming and accepting the accolades. Go away old man.

So, I’d like to talk with Eaton on a long drive and pick his mind about Chrysler in the 1990s. If he wants to bring Gale along, no worries. I’ll buy some extra donuts for everyone.

Suggested by: Xavier96

Mary Barra.

Then I could tell her what I really think about GM ditching the regular-cab, 5-speed small pickup trucks.

And also why my next vehicle purchase might be a Slate.

Suggested by: Anonymous Person

John DeLorean. Chat about his muscle car days, going from the original Route 66 start to LA, certainly hitting up the Pontiac museum along the way, the roadside attractions.

Suggested by: McKoogly

and

John DeLorean!
Added bonus you would have to stop because the driver is too tired.

Suggested by: Ray A

Carlos Ghosn.Why? Because he is outspoken and he is not afraid to say what he thinks,

Suggested by: Luc Desaulniers (minardi)

Christian von Koenigsegg because dude actually knows engineering.

Suggested by: Agon Targeryan