Big Auto vows change, pushes for bailout

WASHINGTON: The big three automakers renewed their plea for an emergency federal bailout, as the head of General Motors Corp. told a deadlocked Congress the industry has made mistakes and economic forces have pushed it ���to the brink.���

GM chief executive Rick Wagoner said time is running short and his company could be out of funds by the end of the year. ���We���re here today because we made mistakes,��� he said in written testimony to the Senate Banking Committee in Washington. ���And we���re here because forces beyond our control have pushed us to the brink.���

Wagoner, Chrysler chief executive Robert Nardelli and Ford Motor Co.���s Alan Mulally are asking for as much as $34 billion in federal aid. The three men demonstrated contrition by pledging to work for $1 a year and travelling to Washington by car. They were ridiculed at a hearing last month for taking separate private jets and left empty-handed after pleading for $25 billion.

Democrat Senator Carl Levin, from Michigan, said ���it���s essential��� that President Bush and President-elect Obama ���become more active��� in talks to rescue the carmakers.

Senate banking committee chairman Christopher Dodd praised the chief executives for coming up with new plans. They have done ���far more than the financial companies to show they deserve taxpayer support,��� he said.

As hearing on Thursday began, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said it is up to the automakers to show that their plans for revamping their companies will work. ���It���s too early to give these plans a grade,��� Perino said. ���The lynchpin of our support has been that we would not provide taxpayer dollars unless they could prove viability.���

GM and Chrysler say they need the first installments on a rescue package this month to avoid running out of cash. Ford has requested a $9 billion credit line it said it may not need to tap.

���I recognize this is a significant amount of public money,��� Nardelli said in written testimony. ���We believe this is the least costly alternative considering the depth of the economic crisis and the options we face.���

US lawmakers have said they may schedule votes next week to aid automakers after hearings on Thursday and Friday.

Leaders haven���t resolved a deadlock over how to provide aid, with Republicans backing use of Energy Department loans that were intended to help retool the industry and Democrats preferring to tap a $700 billion rescue package targeted for financial institutions.

���The collapse of one or both of our domestic competitors would threaten Ford because we have 80% overlap in supplier networks and nearly 25% of Ford���s top dealers also own GM and Chrysler franchises,��� Mulally said.

In a related development, GM and Chrysler executives were said by a person familiar with their private discussions to be considering accepting a pre-arranged bankruptcy as the last- resort price of securing the bailout.

The executives have said publicly that bankruptcy would lead to liquidation as customers abandoned the companies. Wagoner said on Thursday bankruptcy isn���t in his plan.

Staff for three members of Congress have asked restructuring experts if a pre-arranged bankruptcy ��� negotiated with workers, creditors and lenders ��� could be used to reorganize the industry without liquidation, a person familiar with that matter said.