DETROIT — When the Detroit automakers lay out their plans for Congress this week to argue for taxpayer money, they'll probably spell out what they've already told shareholders: They plan to cut production (maybe even brands), make high-mileage cars and slash costs.
But that won't be enough. Two weeks ago, when the Detroit Three CEOs pleaded before Senate and House committees for federal loans, their arguments fell flat amid a public relations debacle. They were sent home empty-handed and told to submit by today "credible restructuring plans" showing that loans would not be a waste.
It was clear that when Detroit returns to Washington this week, their plans must do more than tally people they'll fire or pencils they won't buy — they need to win hearts and minds.
And quickly: Hearings are set to begin Thursday, and Congress is likely to reconvene Dec. 8 to vote on any proposal that results.
The attitudes expressed in the first round of hearings by many of the politicians — even some who support loans — were skeptical, if not hostile. The CEOs were grilled on whether the companies can make a go of it even with loans, whether they deserve to fail. They were accused of building low-quality cars and gas guzzlers and resisting safety and emissions issues until browbeaten by the government or trial lawyers.
"They have to come back with a very persuasive case. The public is generally so against the idea of bailouts," says David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research (CAR).
Cole thinks their best argument is the number of lives their failure would touch: "Where you make the case is when you look at the economic impact and look at the consequences, which the average person doesn't think about."
CAR has tried to quantify that case. An automaker-commissioned study indicated that 3 million U.S. jobs would be lost in the first year if the Detroit Three went under. But that hasn't sold taxpayers on a bailout.
Sacrifices recommendedJack Nerad, market analyst for Kelley Blue Book, says one solution needs to be for their plans to include pay and benefit sacrifices by labor and management.
"A lot of people out there think management and labor went skipping off by themselves and forgot about the American consumer for a long, long time," he says. "They feathered their own nests at the expense of the American consumer."
The CEOs from Chrysler, Ford and GM, plus United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger, will appear before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday and the House Financial Services Committee on Friday.
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