The heads of the three big US car makers appeared before a US Senate committee last night in a bid to secure $25 billion in a stopgap loan.
The biggest of the three, General Motors, is under extreme financial difficulty and faces the prospect of bankruptcy. The industry maintains that three million jobs are on the line.
The CEOs of Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, as well as the head of the United Autoworkers Union, were on Capitol Hill last night.
Sales at General Motors, in particular, are down 45% compared to last year. The company is spending its cash reserves at the rate of $2 billion a month.
Last night, its CEO Rick Wagoner said the US economy would suffer a 'catastrophic collapse' if his firm went under.
But bail-out fatigue is setting in on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have already authorised hundreds of billions of dollars to support the financial sector.
US stock markets made modest gains last night in another volatile day, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending up 1.8% at 8,425.
