bailout

Despite Volvo being a Swedish company, the trouble-stricken carmaker may have to look to the Belgian government for financial aid to help keep it on its feet. Volvo currently operates a plant in the Flanders region of Belgium, and the Flemish Premier Kris Peeters has been in talks with Volvo CEO...

General Motors received an additional $4 billion in loans from the U.S. Treasury late on Friday, while also reaching a cost-cutting agreement with the Canadian Auto Workers union ahead of a rumored Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing expected next week. This is in addition to the $19.4 billion already...

Although most of the news of late tends to focus on GM and Chrysler, these Detroit-based carmakers are not the only companies trying to gain vital government support in order to stay propped up in the current economic climate. While there's no doubt the global financial crisis has affected the U.S...

GM's decline over the course of this year wasn't enough to convince bondholders and the UAW to grant any concessions, but recent reports that the carmaker was in precautionary preparations for filing a Chapter 11 may have galvanized action on the part of the bondholders. Allowing GM to go to...

In the first major sign that the U.S. government was keen on helping out the entire domestic auto industry and not just the Detroit 3 carmakers, the U.S. Treasury approved a $5 billion aid package last month for automotive parts suppliers. The aid is to come in the form of guarantees for...

Last November, the Department of Energy issued interim rules for the use of a already-approved $25 billion loan package earmarked for the construction of more fuel-efficient vehicles. But now, almost five months later, there has still been no disbursement of the funds. Over 75 applications for the...

Warning of impending layoffs should government aid for Jaguar-Land Rover not arrive soon, Tata Motors Chairman Ratan Tata restated the need for government-sourced funds. An urgent call went out in February from the company's CEO, and though aid of £2.3 billion ($3.25 billion) was approved by the...

Saturn is expected to go its own way, Pontiac is being pared down, Hummer is up for sale and Saab has already announced it will be seeking independence. General Motors' brand hemorrhage continued last week with the announcement that Opel will be spun off from the brand as well, with a potential...

People aren't buying new cars. It's really that simple in a lot of ways; the economy is down, the future is uncertain and no one wants to bet their house that they'll still have a job in six months. So Chrysler has been going wild with incentives to try to prop up sales in a market that just...

The solipsism of American media has a way of quietly filtering out much of the rest of the world, but the car industry is in a pinch just about everywhere. Nowhere is that picture clearer than in Sweden where ailing carmakers Saab and Volvo have been seeking government aid for months. Today word...

The resurgence in domestic car quality (it's real) hasn't quite caught up with the members President Obama's newly-formed Task Force on the Auto Industry, or at least so it would seem from their personal car choices: 18 of 20 members and senior aides drive imports. It's not a surprise the majority...

Chrysler’s request for an additional $2 billion in government funded loans in its latest viability proposal looks trivial compared to the $16.6 billion requested by General Motors today in front of the U.S. Treasury. Without this funding GM says it could run out of money as early as next...

The divorce of Daimler from Chrysler in 2007 wasn't complete - the German company Daimler still holds 19.9% of Chrysler - and now that lingering relationship has come back with a vengeance. Despite a year that would be only moderately unsuccessful for Daimler, Chrysler's involvement more than...

Building a foundation for the reconstruction of the industry, General Motors and Chrysler are required to submit new plans for viability today as part of the loan agreement established late last year. GM has yet to unveil their reworked plan, but Chrysler has just released the key details of its...

Detroit's carmakers are due to submit their latest viability plans to the government later today, but already a White House source has leaked that General Motors and Chrysler will both be getting new loan funds. GM's $4 billion loan and Chrysler's $3 billion will bring the total amount handed out...

President Barack Obama today tied another string to the money received by GM and Chrysler, setting a cap of $500,000 on executive salaries for companies in receipt of taxpayer funds. The move is likely to prove popular with the public, which often perceives corporate executives as overpaid. The...

Less than a month after receiving the first $4 billion from the federal government’s bailout package for the auto industry, Chrysler has revealed that it needs an additional $3 billion to help close an alliance deal with Italy’s Fiat Group. Unlike General Motors, which has been...

American carmakers recently secured a multi-billion dollar loan guarantee from the federal government but their counterparts across the pond haven’t been so lucky. Late last year the European Commission approved plans to provide up to $6 billion to its automotive industry, far short of the...

Late Friday evening Chrysler received its first $4 billion in government loan money from the $17.4 billion approved as an emergency measure late in December, pushing its bottom line closer to the $2.5-3 billion minimum it needs to remain in operation. Covering debts and meeting supplier payment...

GMAC has leveraged the recent promise of U.S. Treasury funds to boost its lending capacity, and now it has generated another $21.2 billion in cash via debt-for-equity swaps with its bondholders. The fund raising is part of the company's' effort to raise enough cash to meet the regulatory...