UPDATE:Obama:Automakers Need To Do More For Extra Government Funding
29 März 2009 - 5:42PM
Dow Jones News
A day before he unveils his plans for the U.S. auto industry,
President Barack Obama said car makers, unions and creditors will
have to make sacrifices to weather the economic slump and emerge
"lean and mean."
"They're not quite there yet," Obama told CBS News's Face the
Nation.
With a Tuesday deadline looming for General Motors Corp. GM) and
Chrysler LLC (C.XX) to show that they are on the road to viability,
Obama will make an announcement on the industry Monday morning. GM
and Chrysler, which took $17.4 billion in government assistance
late last year, have asked for another $22 billion. Obama didn't
say if the request will be granted, but has hinted that he's
willing to give further help to the firms in exchange for
significant sacrifices.
"What we're trying to let them know is that we want to have a
successful auto industry, U.S. auto industry. We think we can have
a successful U.S. auto industry, but it's got to be one that is
realistically designed to weather this storm and to emerge at the
other end much more lean, mean and competitive that it currently
is," Obama told CBS.
"And that's going to mean a set of sacrifices from all parties
involved - management, labor, shareholders, creditors, suppliers,
dealers. Everybody's going to have to come to the table and say
it's important for us to take serious restructuring steps now in
order to reserve a brigther future down the road.
"They're not there yet," Obama repeated.
-By Henry J. Pulizzi, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9256;
henry.pulizzi@dowjones.com