美国汽车新闻-英文原版 Obama: Automakers 'are not there yet'

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ZT from Detroit News

Obama: Automakers 'are not there yet'
Gordon Trowbridge and David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- U.S. carmakers "are not there yet" in restructuring their companies and need to make more changes to justify additional federal aid, President Barack Obama said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

"They're not quite there yet," Obama said in an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation."

"There's been some serious efforts to deal with a combination of long-standing problems in the auto industry and the current crisis. ... 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's realistically designed to weather this storm and to emerge at the other end much more lean, mean and competitive than it currently is."

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The president's comments came just a day before he is expected to announce a framework for additional aid to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. Already the companies have received more than $17 billion in federal loans and their parts suppliers another $5 billion. GM and Chrysler have asked for an additional $21 billion.

Monday's announcement is likely to include a requirement, and perhaps deadlines, for GM to reach agreements with the United Auto Workers union and its bondholders to reduce the company's debt. The task force appointed by Obama to set auto policy also has been working to determine whether Chrysler's proposed alliance with Italian automaker Fiat SpA could help the company survive.

The Obama administration wants a U.S. auto industry that is able to thrive without government support, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Sunday.

Geithner, appearing on ABC's "This Week," twice declined to offer any details about Obama's scheduled Monday announcement. But as the president did last week, he said the companies are likely to face stiff conditions in return for the promise of additional aid.

"It's important to know that we want to have a strong auto industry. We want it to emerge from this period of challenge stronger," Geithner told host George Stephanopoulos. "That's going to require a lot of restructuring. We're prepared as a government to help that process if we believe it's going to provide the basis for a strong industry in the future that's not going to rely on government support."