WASHINGTON — Humbled and fighting for survival, Detroit's once-mighty automakers appealed to Congress with a retooled case for a huge bailout Tuesday, pledging to slash workers, car lines and executive pay in return for a federal lifeline. GM said it wouldn't last till New Year's without an immediate $4 billion and could drag the entire industry down if it fails.
General Motors Corp., asking for as much as $18 billion to keep afloat and survive even worse economic storms, painted the direst portrait to date of what could happen if Congress doesn't quickly step in.
"There isn't a Plan B," said Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson. "Absent support, frankly, the company just can't fund its operations." Without help, the company warned, "the company will default in the near term, very likely precipitating a total collapse of the domestic industry and its extensive supply chain, with a ripple effect that will have severe, long-term consequences to the U.S. economy."
Democratic leaders have said they might call Congress back next week to pass an auto bailout — but only if the carmakers' blueprints show they have reasonable plans to stay viable with the help.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday, "We want to see a commitment to the future. We want to see a restructuring of their approach, that they have a new business model, a new business plan." She said, "It is my hope that we would" pass legislation to help the industry.
All three plans envision the government getting a stake in the auto companies that would allow taxpayers to share in future gains.
Ford may not need helpAlong with detailed stabilization plans, the auto executives were offering up a hefty dose of humility and a host of symbolic concessions designed to repair their images, badly tattered after they arrived in Washington last month on three separate private jets to plead for federal help.
Ford CEO Alan Mulally, GM CEO Rick Wagoner and Chrysler chief Bob Nardelli all planned to road-trip to Washington in fuel-efficient hybrid cars for hearings on Thursday and Friday.
Mulally and Wagoner said they would work for $1 a year if their companies took any bailout money. Ford offered to cancel management bonuses and salaried employees' merit raises next year, and GM said it would slash top executives' pay. Both said they would sell their corporate aircraft.
The executives are going out of their way to show deference to lawmakers and a willingness to flog themselves for past mistakes.
Ford Motor Co., in far better shape than GM and Chrysler LLC, asked for a $9 billion "standby line of credit" to stabilize its business but said it didn't expect to tap the funds unless one of Detroit's other Big Three went bust. Its plan projected that Ford would break even or turn a pretax profit in 2011.
The company plans to cut its number of dealers by more than 600, to 3,790 by the end of the year.
Unions prepare to sacrificeUnions were preparing for sacrifices, as well. United Auto Workers leaders called local union leaders nationwide to an emergency meeting today in Detroit to discuss possible concessions. Up for discussion were the possibility of scrapping a jobs bank in which laid-off workers keep receiving most of their pay and postponing automakers' payments into a multibillion-dollar, union-administered health-care fund.
U.S. automakers are struggling to stay afloat amid an economic meltdown, the worst auto sales in decades and a tight credit market. GM, Ford and Chry sler went through nearly $18 billion in cash reserves in the past quarter, and GM and Chrysler have said they could collapse in weeks.
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