Top US automakers reported sharp falls in their December sales, closing out the weakest year for the beleaguered US car industry in over a decade and heralding a bleak start to 2009.
The US Treasury finalised the transaction of a four-billion dollar loan to floundering US auto giant Chrysler. Chrysler head Bob Nardelli said the loan would help "bridge the current financial crisis". A GM loan is expected to follow in January.
US car manufacturer Chrysler said it would put manufacturing on hold until "no sooner than January 19" as it waits for a government bailout, after President George W. Bush warned he was not interested in "putting good money after bad".
Following the subprime mortgage crisis and the global credit crunch that followed, the worst nightmares of the motor trade are becoming a reality. And nowhere does this reality bite harder than in the Motor City, Detroit.
US President-elect Barack Obama says he wants to help American automakers with a bailout so they can "keep their factory doors open" but wants to maintain pressure to ensure they restructure operations.
