Chrysler Takes Pleas To Obama Task Force

Automaker Seeking $5 Billion More In Loans To Stay Afloat

(AP)  Top executives of Chrysler LLC took their requests for billions in new loans to members of the Obama administration's auto task force Wednesday.

Chrysler Chairman and chief executive Bob Nardelli, Vice Chairman Tom LaSorda and Chief Financial Officer Ron Kolka huddled behind closed doors with the administration panel, said a Chrysler official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the talks.

Struggling to survive, Chrysler and General Motors Corp. have received $17.4 billion in federal loans. They are seeking an additional $21.6 billion to keep operating during a difficult recession and a major plunge in auto sales.

Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Chrysler has received $4 billion in loans and wants another $5 billion in federal aid and the approval of an alliance with Italian automaker Fiat SpA.

The company said in a Feb. 17 progress report that it needed the loans to stave off a liquidation of the company. The automaker lost $8 billion last year.

President Barack Obama's auto task force is trying to restructure GM and Chrysler by March 31. If GM and Chrysler fail to make a convincing case, the administration could pull the loans and essentially force the companies into bankruptcy protection.

Mr. Obama, in his speech to Congress on Tuesday, said, "Years of bad decision-making and a global recession have pushed our automakers to the brink" and the U.S. should not "protect them from their own bad practices."

But he said the administration was "committed to the goal of a retooled, re-imagined auto industry that can compete and win. Millions of jobs depend on it. Scores of communities depend on it. And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it."

Members of the task force, led by Treasury Department advisers Steven Rattner and Ron Bloom, met with lawmakers and suppliers earlier in the week and are scheduled to meet with GM executives on Thursday.

General Motors has said it could run out of money by the end of March and needs $2 billion in March and another $2.6 billion in April to stay in business.

GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said the executives will travel to Washington by commercial airline. After being skewered by lawmakers for flying in corporate jets to seek government loans last year, GM announced it would return its five leased jets to their leasing companies and disband its aviation operations.

[cjs_cnet_xyz]

What is wrong here is that the financial climate is not functional for any business let alone U.S. automakers. The problems these companies face are the direct result of poor financial oversight of the banking industry. What other industries will this nation let fail as a result of the credit crisis. The U.S. auto industry should get a free ride through this crisis.

[mecury69]

"I admit, GW had his flaws, but everyone in Washington does.

Posted by jcontex at 1:37 PM : Feb 25, 2009"

Dude, I could agree with most of what you say but watch out for understatements like this. It brings all your ideas and opinions into question.

[jcontex]

tj217-2009 ,
Go back and check your facts. It was not the Republicans. It was the Clinton administration that passed the softened laws and regulations that allowed these companies to operate the way they have over the past decade. These were laws and regulations that were passed under Clinton during the last six months of his final term. I love when people like yourself spout garbage from your mouth before doing any kind of background study. This is what is wrong with our government and politics, everyone wants to point a finger at the other guy. I admit, GW had his flaws, but everyone in Washington does. Obama touts change, but so far I'm still seeing the same old song and dance in Washington. Things will get much worse yet, and GM and Chrysler are done. The suppliers and manufacturers that supply and build for them will indeed take a hit, but will quickly bounce back by supporting the foreign automakers that have factories throughout the US. When the economy does bounce back, and it will. These foreign automakers will bring back the same level of business to the suppliers. Even more actually, due to the lack of competition from the extinction of GM and Chrysler. If you want to blame a group, blame the UAW. They're the ones wanting 80 hours worth of pay for putting in a 30 hour work week. GM and Chrysler let them get away with it for far too long. What they get is what they deserve. Let them file for bankruptcy, it worked for the US airline industry. Their unions were forced to renegotiate, and lost a lot more than what they could have given up in labor consessions during earlier talks and negotiations.

[lucasnico]

UAW is a big problem, ......this is history repeating itself from the 70's. And the attitude Detroit continually presents to the rest of the world.......that the American Automobile makers are the best......big difference between real and false confidence.

[inventagod]

'Years of bad decision-making and a global recession have pushed our automakers to the brink'

- and those same bad decision-makers can now magically begin making great decisions now that there are unlimited funds???

[tedryfiak]

If GM and Chrysler used the bailout money to buy only car parts made in the USA for anything they sell here - about a million jobs would come back here from China and Mexico. That would be jobs at the suppliers below GM and Chrysler and most of those are non-union and globally competitive already. That would create tax-paying and health-care providing jobs. It would only take weeks to start implementing the return of those jobs. It would work but nobody seems to be thinking straight.

[tomanyt]

Chrysler should just shut it doors and go away.

[foxmulder33]

Both GM and Chrysler have to restructure or provide detailed plans on how they can survive. Laying people off and closing factories does not guarantee success. I want these companies to succeed, but they have to have realistic goals and vision.

Designing, building and selling a pre-determined number of high-quality, affordable vehicles, that Americans and foreigners will purchase, is a start. Having Executives and Management work for the same wages as factory workers is a good second step.

[rickwar]

Let them fail. those that believe that it will affect "Tires, Trains, Trucking, Electronics, Brakes, Plastics, Metals" may be right in the very short term, but folks are still going to have cars and the aftermarket is where these folks can be employed.

Might just want to bone up on Delphi and Viseton. Might just want to do a little bone up work on the aftemarket also, it's not as strong as you might think, even after takeovers and consolidations.

[tuffone31]

All the Chrysler haters are apparently first to comment.
What an idea! Chrysler should merge with GM who today indicates that they will go belly up by the end of April if they don't get several billions of dollars from Uncle Sam.
Can you imagine Ford merging with anyone?! FORD FAMILY of fine cars -get it?
Are we still a proud country or are we happy to become addicted to Japanese vehicles?

I still like GM and FORD and CHRYSLER and the fine vehicles they produce...
It is inconceivable to me to be an American without these American automakers and American vehicles.
Think about it...wake up tomorrow and be at the mercy of foreign auto makers. Period.
Doesn't work well with OIL now does it?
Doesn't work well with toys or paint coming from China does it?
Next thing you know, we will be 'outsourcing' our national defense to the lowest bidder.

We could re-tool our automakers into military vehicles manufacturers for the world.
We could stop importing 50% of our consumable products from China and put out of work auto workers back to work producing these goods.
We could start up some American shoe factories.
We could stop importing steel from Japan and fire up our steel mills again.
We could stop thinking of ourselves as solely as an Integrated Techology nation.
We could do what we do best -produce food instead of limiting that production.
We could do what we do best -invent new products and actually produce them, too.

AMERICA WORKS! because we always have worked both smart and hard.
AMERICA WORKS! because we pride ourselves in our heritage to 'git 'er done.'
Let's not give up on American workers, apple pie, Chevrolet, Dodge or F-150's.
Let us preserve our heritage and make America work again -not by throwing out the baby with the bathwater but, rather, by changing the bathwater and nurturing the child.
America -a couple of hundred years of age is still a 'child' that has made us all proud.
I am proud to be an American -home of the free and land of the brave -still.
America -the last best hope of mankind.
American that shinning city on the hill.
America the Beautiful.
Live long and prosper.