Broke Mercantile Beggars: Car makers seek help as sales plunge

THE three big US car manufacturers - General Motors Corporation, Ford Motor Company, Chrysler LLC - as well as US car-parts makers are seeking $US50billion ($57.5million) in government-backed loans to develop and build more fuel-efficient vehicles.

They want Congress to allocate $3.75billion needed to back $25billion in US loans approved in last year's energy bill and add $25billion in new loans over subsequent years. The industry is also seeking fewer restrictions on how funding is used.

GM and Ford lost $24.1billion in the second quarter as consumers, battered by record petrol prices, abandoned the trucks that provide most of US companies' profit and embraced cars that benefit overseas competitors such as Honda Motor Company. American car sales may drop to a 15-year low this year and fall further in 2009, analysts have said.

Standard & Poor's said last week that US light-vehicle sales will fall to 14.2million units this year, from 16.1million in 2007 and drop again to 14.1million next year.

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Broke Mercantile Beggars: Car makers seek help as sales plunge

Broke Mercantile Beggars: Car makers seek help as sales plunge

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