Executive Chairman Bill Ford said Friday, Ford Motor Co. will keep investing in new fuel-saving technology even if it does not get any government loan guarantees, but the loans will help the automaker get the technology to market more quickly. In an interview at an event marking the loans are important to help the industry deal with higher fuel economy standards, carbon dioxide emissions limits and a marketplace that has shifted from trucks to more fuel-efficient cars.
Ford said “I think it is important to our whole industry, all the retooling were doing as an industry, to really meet the future demands of fuel economy and CO2 and all the new technology that’s really going to be needed to achieve that.” The company will go on without the loan guarantees, but its work will be tougher.
The company doesn’t have a number in mind for how much it would borrow. But Ford said the government-backed loans, which Ford (F, Fortune 500) intends to repay, would mean the difference between single-digit interest rates and the double-digit rates now available in a tight credit market. That potentially could save the troubled automaker millions of dollars.
Ford has lost $23.9 billion in the past 2 ½ years and has had to mortgage its assets to stay in business as the U.S. auto market has shifted away from profitable trucks and sport utility vehicles to more fuel-efficient models.

The Detroit’s big automakers have been trying to persuade Congress to speed up funding for $25 billion in subsidized loans to help retool their old plants. Before the Congress adjourns on September 30, the Detroit’s lobbyist wants the funding approved. The industry’s deteriorating state; they say they need an extra $25 billion and all to be lent at low rates of 5%.

The team flew in from Detroit and Washington and intent on using the conventions myriad reception, lunches, parties, and meetings to make the case for the loan program to as many members of Congress. Ziad S. Ojakli group vice-president for government and community relation at Ford Motor says “This issue is white hot” and “We are focusing on it like a laser.”

According to Greg Martin the General Motors’ Washington spokesman, the engineering and plant-retooling costs required to meet those standards will run to some $100 billion. Congress agreed to provide low-cost loans but has not approved the funds. Detroit needs fast access to cheap capital or the industry’s woes will deepen said Ojakli. He argues that it is critical to the U.S. to keep auto manufacturing alive as it is to support the country’s financial system with aid to troubled banks.

Rick Wagoner chairman of General Motors Corp. will make the case for up to $50 billion in federal loans to the auto industry at a U.S. Senate energy summit. The summit will be on September 12 and was pushed by a bipartisan group of senators hoping to break a logjam around energy in Congress. The Democrats and Republican Party have hammered each other over who’s to blame for rising energy prices and what should be done to relieve them.

Group of senators unveiled an energy bill in July that included $7.5 billion in loans for automakers and parts suppliers to retool. Six other senators have signed on as supporters and Senate leaders approved the idea of an energy summit.

The maker of automotive parts and building climate-control system, Johnson Controls Inc. said it will pare production and cut an unspecified number of jobs and resulting in costs of as much as $500 million. Johnson Control Inc. also said it expects to complete most of the cost-reduction effort by early 2010.

The Chrysler LLC has been demonstrating plug-in hybrid prototypes to some dealers that are further developed than those previously shown by the automaker. The vehicles are being developed by Chrysler’s Envi unit and which the automaker created last year to create electric vehicles and other advanced propulsion technologies, said Chrysler Vice Chairman and President Jim Press.

The Big Three Detroit carmakers reported hefty double digit declines from a year ago and Japan’s Toyota and Honda saw single digit losses while Nissan bucked the trend with an increase in sales. Automakers saw another painful slide in US sales this August with the consumers cautious amid a weak economy. According to research firm Autodata, the total new car sales amounted to 1.249 million units, or an adjusted annual pace 13.72 million down a whopping 15.5 percent from a year ago.

According to industry source Detroit auto companies are preparing to launch a campaign for assistance next week and the goal is to have Congress approve at least 25 billion dollars in loans by the end of September. Peter Morici economist at the University of Maryland said “It is a bad time for the industry, even for those companies that are competitive.” “I don’t expect thing to improve much because the economic conditions are slowing further people don’t have any money for big purchases.”

GM’s sales were notably better than the consensus forecast for a 29 percent drop, and were arguably aided by the employee discount program said Himanshu Patel at JP Morgan Securities . Reported August that General Motors US sales slumped 20.4 percent from a year ago to 308,817 vehicles and although it pointed out that sales were up a significant 31 percent from a month earlier.

August US sales slid 26.6 percent from a year ago, citing a weak economy and sluggish demand for large trucks and sport utility vehicles said Ford Motor Co. and Ford also cited higher demand for fuel efficient small cars and SUVs but this was offset by other factors. The company said “the impact of a weak economy and lower demand for larger trucks and SUV’s resulted in double digit sales declines for Ford and the auto industry.”

The White House said it was in discussions about a proposal to give the auto industry $25 billion in government-issued low-cost loans and a sign that automakers may be making progress in their effort to get financial assistance.

Dana Perino the White House spokeswoman said “it’s something we’re aware of and we’re talking to the members of Congress and also the people in the auto industry, and thinking about what they might think would be required from their perspective.” Dana Perino said she was not prepared to say what funding amount “the White House would or would not support.” She also said the White House may say whether it supports the proposal in the next day or two.

Energy bill that was signed into law by President Bush included a provision to provide $25 billion in direct loans to automakers but the bill didn’t allocate any funding and it would cost $3.75 billion to guarantee that money. Detroit’s automakers and the United Auto Workers argue a $50 billion package may be necessary and which would cost $7.5 billion to guarantee. Automakers could use the money to retool plants to build advanced technology vehicles that were at least 20 percent more fuel-efficient than the minimum required

Obama is running advertisements tweaking McCain’s support of the smaller package and Michigan is an important state in the presidential election. Barack Obama is the Democratic presidential nominee that has endorsed the $50 billion package and while his Republican rival John McCain endorsed the $25 billion package.

The U.S. automakers is still dependent on pickups and sport utility vehicles and likely gave up more of their home marker again as their shrinkage eclipsed that of Japan’s car focused Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co.. General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC probably led a drop in U.S. auto sales last month as new buyer incentives failed to stem an industry slide that began December.

August rate was 13 million based on a survey of analysts and economists. Offering employee discounts to all customers and no-interest loans may have kept results from falling to July’s 15-year low, when new vehicles sold at an annual rate of 12.6 million and a decline would extend the industry’s slump to nine months.

Jeff Schuster, chief of global forecasting for consumer research firm said “we would expect things to be worse for the month if it were not for the significant incentives.” General Motors the largest U.S. automaker is probably will say sales slid 29 percent and while Chrysler’s may have plunged 34 percent and Ford Motor Co.’s by 21 percent based on the 5 analysts’ estimates.

George Pipas sales analyst of Ford said “we’re in a very difficult period right now,” and also said Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford’s sale is likely to be close to July’s 15 percent decline. Automakers had to contend with the weakening U.S. economy. The Labor Department will say Sept. 5 that August non-farm payrolls fell by 75,000 jobs.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said, credit card receivables as well as auto loans dipped in March in line with weaker consumer spending due to higher prices of oil and other commodities. BSP said in a statement, bank’s card receivables slipped 0.6 percent to P115.4 billion in March this year from the end December level. Receivables went up by 19.7 percent compared with P96.430 billion in March last year.

Universal and commercial banks accounted for 81.1 percent or P93.6 billion of the total receivables and while credit card subsidiaries held 14.8 percent or P17.1 billion. Of the total receivable, the current amount reached P103.660 billion while past dues amounted to P11.757 billion. Non-linked thrift banks carried the remaining P4.7 billion on their balance sheets.

Banks’ loan portfolio amounted to P2.137 trillion in March and higher than the P2.130 trillion at end December and the P1.925 trillion in March last year. Price pressures increased in the first quarter and with inflation rising to 5.6 percent from 3.3 percent in the previous quarter. Credit card receivables comprised 5.4 percent of lenders’ total portfolio, higher than the 5 percent in March last year.

The substantial decline in auto loans stemmed from the change in financial reporting of auto loans under the new Financial Reporting Package said BSP. Thrift banks took the biggest slice of the auto loan market at 61 percent while universal and commercial banks held 37.3 percent.

Barack Obama will renew his sales pitch to voters for the 2009 model Obama administration and Detroit automakers are among those, in his fourth visit to Michigan. Obama used Detroit’s foibles as a rallying cry for reform during the Democratic primary, making his critique a standard part of his stump speech. Obama has launched a charm crusade toward the industry that powers a key swing state, since clinching the nomination.

Obama’s visited assembly plants, meet with chief executives of General Motors and Ford and talked up the companies’ new technology. Obama was ready when automakers and suppliers began seeking funding for up to $50 billion in government loans in July. Michigan’s Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. John Dingell meet with Obama to give him their advice and while the UAW threw its support behind Obama touting his record on trade and health care.

Obama had proposed a similar program last year as part of his fuel economy program and sided with automakers while McCain rejected the idea. The idea appeals to Michigan voters and helps Obama to a 46% to 39% lead in the Detroit Free Press/Local 4 Michigan Poll conducted last month. The campaign touts the loans in a Michigan specific TV ad, following Obama’s pledge Thursday to “help our auto companies retool so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America.” The automakers’ three top executives General Motors Chairman Richard Wagoner, Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally and Chrysler Chairman Bob Nardelli have not contributed to the election.

Automakers were “deserving” of as much as $50 billion in government-backed loans so that they can build more fuel-efficient cars, said a top General Motors executive. Robert A Lutz vice-chairman of General Motors said the car companies need money to retool their plants but probably cannot raise enough capital on their own because of the tight credit markets. Lutz also said the automakers have already made considerable progress in transforming themselves and that the government should help them proceed faster.

Lutz told reporters at an event near Chicago where General Motor showed off it 2009 line up that “The American auto industry is deserving of government loan guarantee,” “We have done a whole bunch of things that people said, ‘Why aren’t you doing this?’” Automakers and along with the United Automobile Workers union and lawmakers are urging Congress to appropriate $3.75 billion to back the $25 billion in loans authorized last year.

Detroit carmakers have announced plans to revamp numerous truck plants so that they can build the smaller cars and crossover vehicles. Costs of each conversion are ranging from $75 million at a Ford plant. Sales of pickups and SUVs plummeted this year as gasoline prices climbed above $4 a gallon in much of the United States. Automakers have been offering substantial discount on some models and shutting down plants that make them to keep inventories from growing larger. July, large SUV sales were down to 42% and full size pickup trucks sales declined to 28%.