Mixed reviews in Congress for Fiat-Chrysler deal

WASHINGTON – Fiat's proposed deal to take a 35 percent stake in Chrysler in exchange for access to a lineup of more fuel-efficient cars received mixed reviews in Congress on Wednesday, with one lawmaker suggesting it could raise questions among taxpayers.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said the proposed alliance involving Chrysler, whose majority owner is New York-based private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, creates "an interesting dilemma for U.S. taxpayers" in which they would essentially finance a partnership between Chrysler and a foreign automaker.

The Bush administration gave Chrysler LLC a $4 billion loan earlier this month and the automaker's finance arm received a separate $1.5 billion infusion last week to expand its lending practices. Chrysler could receive another $3 billion in loans if the Obama administration approves a restructuring plan expected to be submitted in mid-February.

"Cerberus made a bad investment and in order for them to get that investment out of their portfolio of holdings, U.S. taxpayers have had to write an $8.5 billion check to Fiat," said Corker, who urged General Motors Corp. and Chrysler to seek concessions from unions and bondholders in exchange for government financing.

"For the U.S. taxpayer, they have to be scratching their head a little bit," he said.

Despite the concerns, Corker said the agreement could strengthen Chrysler's viability plan and be "the best thing that could happen with Chrysler."

Chrysler and Fiat Group SpA announced Tuesday a nonbinding agreement to establish a global strategic alliance that would help Chrysler bring badly needed small cars to its showrooms while helping the maker of Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo vehicles re-enter the American market.

Analysts noted Fiat would not be required to provide cash in the deal, but its willingness to partner with Chrysler could provide assurances to Washington about the company's long-term prospects.

The agreement "will significantly improve the chances of Chrysler paying that money back," said Rebecca Lindland, an auto industry analyst with the consulting firm IHS Global Insight.

Lindland said the deal would could give Chrysler access to markets in Russia and Brazil and help the company develop smaller, fuel-efficient cars to compliment its truck lineup.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said the deal could raise concerns among lawmakers but he noted that Chrysler already shares technology with German automaker Daimler AG, which owns 19.9 percent of the company.

"The idea of a partnership, not an ownership situation, but a partnership which allows Chrysler to enjoy and receive some technology input in return for building small cars in this country .... that may be a good idea," Carper said.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said she had not received details from Chrysler, which employs thousands of workers in her home state. "The most important thing is how are they going to structure it and will we keep jobs in the United States?" she asked.

The alliance with Fiat would be included in a viability plan to the Treasury Department, which is due by Feb. 17, and could help the company convince the government to provide an additional $3 billion in loans.

"The nonbinding term sheet with Fiat is consistent with the U.S. Treasury's requirements," Chrysler said in statement late Wednesday. "Chrysler will seek U.S. Treasury approval for this transaction under its loan agreement, as well as customary regulatory approvals."

If Chrysler fails to achieve viability by March 31, the new Obama administration could call back the $4 billion in loans, essentially pushing the company into bankruptcy.

Fiat spokesman Gualberto Ranieri said the alliance was contingent upon regulatory approvals by the Treasury Department.

Chrysler product development chief Frank Klegon told reporters in Detroit at the Automotive News World Congress that he expected an additional $3 billion in government financing to be an important part of the process for the potential alliance.

AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher in Detroit and Associated Press Writer Ariel David in Rome contributed to this report.

Ford tells Congress it may be able to go it alone

WASHINGTON – Ford Motor Co. is asking Congress for a $9 billion "stand-by line of credit" to stabilize its business, but says it doesn't expect to tap it.

Unless one of Detroit's other Big Three auto companies goes bust, Ford expects to have enough money to make it through next year, it said in a plan that projected the firm will break even or turn a pretax profit in 2011.

Detroit's automakers, making a second bid for $25 billion in funding, are presenting Congress with plans Tuesday to restructure their ailing companies and provide assurances that the funding will help them survive and thrive.

General Motors Corp., Ford and Chrysler LLC said they would refinance their companies' debt, cut executive pay, seek concessions from workers and find other ways of reviving their staggering companies.

The Big Three executives also are offering a series of mostly symbolic moves to burnish their images, badly tattered after they arrived in Washington D.C. last month on three separate private jets to plead for a federal lifeline for their struggling companies.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally said he'd work for $1 per year if his firm had to take any government loan money. The company's plan also says it will cancel all management employees' 2009 bonuses, scrap merit increases for its North American salaried employees next year, and sell its five corporate aircraft.

And for this week's round of congressional hearings on the auto bailout, all three company chiefs will skip the lavish travel arrangements. Mulally is coming by car from Detroit for this week's second round of congressional hearings on government help for the Big Three. GM Chief Rick Wagoner will drive a Chevrolet Malibu hybrid sedan for the 520-mile trek from Detroit to Capitol Hill, spokesman Tony Cervone said Tuesday. And Chrysler LLC CEO Robert Nardelli won't travel by corporate jet, but a spokeswoman declined to elaborate on his travel plans, citing security reasons.

The unions were preparing to make sacrifices as well. UAW leaders summoned local union leaders from across the country to an emergency meeting Wednesday in Detroit to discuss concessions the union could make to help auto companies get government loans.

U.S. automakers are struggling to stay afloat heading into 2009 under the weight of an economic meltdown, the worst auto sales in decades and a tight credit market. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler went through nearly $18 billion in cash reserves during the last quarter, and GM and Chrysler have said they could collapse in weeks.

Top executives from the Big Three failed last month to convince a skeptical Congress that they were worthy of $25 billion in loans. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., ordered them to outline major changes, including the elimination of lavish executive pay packages and assurances that taxpayers would be reimbursed for the loans.

All three companies are filing separate plans. Congressional hearings are planned for Thursday and Friday.

"I believe the industry will make a compelling case for bridge loans that will allow the companies to return to firm financial footing," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.

GM will outline efforts to negotiate swapping some of the company's debt for equity stakes in the automaker, either shares or warrants for them, said two people briefed on the company's plan.

With eight separate brands, GM will also discuss efforts to shed brands but it would prefer to sell them instead of shutting down Pontiac, Saturn or Saab, said one of the people briefed on the plan. Killing off brands, like GM did with Oldsmobile in 2004, would require cash the company doesn't have, the person said. The people briefed on GM's preparations didn't want to be identified because the plan hadn't been completed.

Some members of Congress have urged the Big Three executives to take major pay cuts as part of the deal. Chrysler's Nardelli said he would work for $1 a year, and a similar commitment is expected from GM's Wagoner.

Chrysler is expected to outline changes that would include a swap of debt in the company for equity stakes and reductions in some vehicle models, according to a person who was briefed on the plan. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private.

Cash stockpiles at GM and Chrysler are dangerously close to the minimum amount required to run the companies, meaning they could have trouble paying all their bills by the end of the year.

GM, according to its quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, owes creditors $45 billion and it must pay more than $7.5 billion early in 2010 to a United Auto Workers trust fund that will take over retiree health care payments.

Ford owes more than $26 billion, with $6.3 billion due to its UAW trust fund at the end of 2009. Chrysler, a private company, does not have to open its books, but its CEO, Nardelli, has said it would be difficult for the company to make it without federal aid. All three likely are negotiating with the UAW for delays in payments to the trusts.

The companies are expected to seek other concessions from the United Auto Workers, including the elimination of the much-maligned jobs bank in which laid-off workers keep receiving most of their pay.

Alan Reuther, the UAW's legislative director, declined to say on Monday what kinds of concessions the union might take but said "we realize that all stakeholders need to come to the table to do what's necessary to ensure the viability of the companies. We're prepared to do our part."

The UAW leaders subsequently disclosed plans for the Wednesday meeting, where they will discuss the possibility of restructuring a multibillion-dollar union-administered health care fund so that the automakers can delay payments, according to a person familiar with the matter.

They also plan to discuss eliminating the jobs bank.

The companies are resisting calls for bankruptcy. The executives said last month that bankruptcy cannot be an option because no one would buy a car from an automaker that may not survive the life of the vehicle

The Big Three Plead to Congress For A Loan

WASHINGTON – Detroit's Big Three automakers pleaded with Congress Tuesday for a $25 billion lifeline to save their once-proud companies from collapse, warning of broader peril for the national economy as well.

It was an uphill battle, with the plan stalled on Capitol Hill amid opposition from Republicans and the Bush administration. But congressional leaders worked behind the scenes in an effort to hammer out a compromise that could speed some aid to the automakers before year's end.

The executives of Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp., as well as the United Auto Workers union chief, were pleading their case Tuesday afternoon before the Senate Banking Committee. A House panel was to hear from them Wednesday.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Congress might have to return in December — rather than adjourning for the year this week, as expected — to push through an auto bailout.

"Dealing with the automobile crisis is a pressing need. We are talking about a lot of people ... and a great consequence to our economy," said Hoyer, D-Md. "Obviously we are going to be back here, we think, in December."

The financial situation for the automakers grows more precarious by the day. Cash-strapped GM said it will delay reimbursing its dealers for rebates and other sales incentives and could run out of cash by year's end without government aid.

In the Senate, leaders were focusing on a plan favored by the White House and GOP lawmakers to let the auto industry use a $25 billion loan program created by Congress in September — designed to help the companies develop more fuel-efficient vehicles — to tide them over financially until President-elect Barack Obama takes office.

However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other senior Democrats, who count environmental groups among their strongest supporters, have vehemently opposed that approach because it would divert federal money that was supposed to go toward the development of vehicles that use less gasoline.

Instead, they want to draw a separate $25 billion for the industry from the $700 billion Wall Street bailout — bringing the government's total aid to the car companies to $50 billion.

A Senate vote on that plan, which would also extend jobless benefits, could come as early as Thursday, but aides in both parties and lobbyists tracking the effort privately acknowledge it doesn't have the support to advance. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson renewed the administration's opposition on Tuesday.

Even the car companies' strongest supporters conceded Tuesday that changing the terms of the fuel-efficiency loan program might be the only way to secure funding for them with Congress set to depart for the year and the firms in tough financial shape.

"While I believe we have to have retooling going into next year, if in the short run the only way we have to be able to get some immediate help is to take a portion of that, I would very reluctantly do that — but only because I believe President-elect Obama is going to be focused on retooling and on a manufacturing strategy next year," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

The White House said the government shouldn't send any more money to the struggling auto industry on top of the already-approved loans.

"We don't think that taxpayers should be asked to throw money at a company that can't prove that it has a long-term path for success," said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority leader, said that redirecting the existing loans was "a sound way to go forward," and that he was working with Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada to set a vote on such a plan.

"The auto industry obviously is very important, very important to my state, but there is a way to do this," said McConnell, who has two Ford plants and a GM plant in his state.

Paulson, testifying on the House side, defended the administration's handling of the massive $700 billion bailout for the financial industry and said it should remain off-limits for Detroit, no matter how badly the automakers need help.
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Detroit seeks Congress aid on retiree health care

Ken Thomas / Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The leaders of General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and the president of the United Auto Workers union came to Capitol Hill Thursday to discuss billions of dollars more in financial help for the companies, which have struggled under a weakened economy.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was meeting with the chief executives of Detroit's automakers to hear their expected plea for an additional $25 billion in federal loans for future health care payments for retirees.

Pelosi told reporters at the start of the meeting that they would discuss "how we can work together to go forward to ensure the viability of that important industry, looking out for the taxpayer and looking out for the worker."

The executives also plan to seek help in accessing money from the Treasury Department or the Federal Reserve.

Congress last month approved $25 billion in low-interest loans for domestic automakers and suppliers to retool plants to build fuel efficient vehicles. But congressional allies of the industry have said the money will not be available fast enough to help the companies.

U.S. auto sales declined to their lowest level in more than 17 years last month, prompting some auto executives to predict dire consequences if the economy doesn't improve. The companies are hoping Pelosi will include funding for the industry in an economic stimulus package if she decides to call the House back in for a lame-duck session.

Alan Reuther, the UAW's legislative director, said the executives and UAW president Ron Gettelfinger "will be making the case why additional assistance from the federal government is needed to help the companies through this severe economic credit crisis."

The Pelosi meeting with Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli, Ford CEO Alan Mulally and GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner comes at a precarious time for the industry. General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are expected to post dismal third-quarter results Friday that will show losses in the billions of dollars. Additional job cuts by both automakers also are expected Friday.

A top GM executive said Wednesday that the next 100 days will be critical for GM and the industry.

"We must be adaptable and ready to make needed changes quickly, particularly over the next 100 days," said Troy Clarke, GM's president for North America.

GM has been talking to Cerberus Capital Management LP, the majority owner of Chrysler LLC, about acquiring Chrysler. GM is reportedly seeking Chrysler's $11 billion in cash and federal aid to make the deal happen.

Auto industry officials said the companies do not intend to ask Pelosi for Congress' help in financing a merger. Gettelfinger has expressed concern that a GM acquisition of Chrysler would lead to massive job losses.

The new $25 billion in loans that the automakers want from Congress would help them make required payments to health care trust funds that were created as part of the 2007 labor deal.

Reuther said the companies are required to provide $15 billion to the fund in January 2010 and an additional $15 billion by 2012. He said the $25 billion from Congress would give the companies a better chance of immediately lining up other financing because most of the health care trust fund payments would have been covered.

"It's very important that those monies be contributed so retirees continue to have health care," he said. "The financial community is looking at that liability, and it's a major factor in their willingness to provide loans to the companies."

The executives and Gettelfinger also want help from Congress in winning access to the $700 billion financial bailout being run by the Treasury Department and to low-rate emergency borrowing from the Federal Reserve's discount window, used in normal times by banks.

President-elect Obama expressed support for an additional $25 billion in loans on the condition that the money would go toward helping the industry build fuel efficient cars. Obama has said he would meet with industry leaders and the UAW quickly to talk about helping automakers, but a meeting has not yet been scheduled.



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Detroit seeks Congress aid on retiree health care

Ken Thomas / Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The leaders of General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and the president of the United Auto Workers union came to Capitol Hill Thursday to discuss billions of dollars more in financial help for the companies, which have struggled under a weakened economy.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was meeting with the chief executives of Detroit's automakers to hear their expected plea for an additional $25 billion in federal loans for future health care payments for retirees.

Pelosi told reporters at the start of the meeting that they would discuss "how we can work together to go forward to ensure the viability of that important industry, looking out for the taxpayer and looking out for the worker."

The executives also plan to seek help in accessing money from the Treasury Department or the Federal Reserve.

Congress last month approved $25 billion in low-interest loans for domestic automakers and suppliers to retool plants to build fuel efficient vehicles. But congressional allies of the industry have said the money will not be available fast enough to help the companies.

U.S. auto sales declined to their lowest level in more than 17 years last month, prompting some auto executives to predict dire consequences if the economy doesn't improve. The companies are hoping Pelosi will include funding for the industry in an economic stimulus package if she decides to call the House back in for a lame-duck session.

Alan Reuther, the UAW's legislative director, said the executives and UAW president Ron Gettelfinger "will be making the case why additional assistance from the federal government is needed to help the companies through this severe economic credit crisis."

The Pelosi meeting with Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli, Ford CEO Alan Mulally and GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner comes at a precarious time for the industry. General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are expected to post dismal third-quarter results Friday that will show losses in the billions of dollars. Additional job cuts by both automakers also are expected Friday.

A top GM executive said Wednesday that the next 100 days will be critical for GM and the industry.

"We must be adaptable and ready to make needed changes quickly, particularly over the next 100 days," said Troy Clarke, GM's president for North America.

GM has been talking to Cerberus Capital Management LP, the majority owner of Chrysler LLC, about acquiring Chrysler. GM is reportedly seeking Chrysler's $11 billion in cash and federal aid to make the deal happen.

Auto industry officials said the companies do not intend to ask Pelosi for Congress' help in financing a merger. Gettelfinger has expressed concern that a GM acquisition of Chrysler would lead to massive job losses.

The new $25 billion in loans that the automakers want from Congress would help them make required payments to health care trust funds that were created as part of the 2007 labor deal.

Reuther said the companies are required to provide $15 billion to the fund in January 2010 and an additional $15 billion by 2012. He said the $25 billion from Congress would give the companies a better chance of immediately lining up other financing because most of the health care trust fund payments would have been covered.

"It's very important that those monies be contributed so retirees continue to have health care," he said. "The financial community is looking at that liability, and it's a major factor in their willingness to provide loans to the companies."

The executives and Gettelfinger also want help from Congress in winning access to the $700 billion financial bailout being run by the Treasury Department and to low-rate emergency borrowing from the Federal Reserve's discount window, used in normal times by banks.

President-elect Obama expressed support for an additional $25 billion in loans on the condition that the money would go toward helping the industry build fuel efficient cars. Obama has said he would meet with industry leaders and the UAW quickly to talk about helping automakers, but a meeting has not yet been scheduled.



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