Big Three survival bailout requests rise to $34B
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and TOM KRISHER
Associated Press
December 3, 2008
Page 3 of 3
Chrysler said it would cut costs by slashing employee benefits -- including suspending its match portion of the 401(k) retirement plan and reducing its health care contribution for salaried workers -- and terminating its lease car program. It said it would also ask more productivity of each employee.
Chrysler's product plan includes the first full-function electric-drive model in 2010 and expansion to additional models by 2013. The company's market penetration of electric-drive vehicles will further increase with over 500,000 produced by 2013, the blueprint said.
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 UAW-administered 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 resisting calls that they file for bankruptcy, arguing that no one would buy a car from an automaker that might not survive the life of the vehicle.
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Tom Krisher reported from Detroit. AP Writer Ken Thomas contributed from Washington.
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