European Carmakers Want "Green" Loans - Theirs and Ours
October 03, 2008
European automakers plan to ask the European Commission for $55 billion in loans to develop environmentally-friendly vehicles, similar to loans approved this week by the U.S. government, to put them on a level playing field. At the same time, however, some European automakers also want a piece of the U.S. funds, the Financial Times reported in Friday's edition.
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said unanimous agreement exists among automakers to ask the European Union's executive body for the loans. "We will approach the European Commission for a similar idea to the U.S. Forty billion Euros ($55 billion) is a good number given the bigger size of the European industry. We need a level playing field," Marchionne told the Financial Times in an interview on Friday.
At the same time, European carmakers are lobbying the U.S. for wider access to the $25 billion in low-cost loans for the U.S. automotive industry approved by Congress and signed by President Bush this week. While the aid package does not specifically exclude foreign carmakers, one senior European executive described it as "clearly a bail-out" of the Detroit-based industry, the Financial Times reported.
The London paper reports that German carmakers, such as Volkswagen, believe the U.S. loans discriminate against non-U.S. manufacturers. Volkswagen of America CEO Stefan Jacoby said lobbying had already started, with Tennessee and Virginia - the two states where the German carmaker has a U.S. presence - are helping them in VW's effort to get a piece of the U.S. funds. "It is to a certain extent discriminating against foreign manufacturers," he told the paper. He said the heads of other non-U.S. companies with operations in the U.S. are similarly lobbying.
Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche told the Financial Times: "If there is a general investment into R&D to promote green technology, it might be a reasonable move but it shouldn't be exclusive to some manufacturers."
No one mentioned if U.S. automakers who do business in Europe would get a slice of the proposed European funds to level the playing field there.
Meantime, Toyota has kept quiet on the issue, but has raised concerns over proposed tax credits that could favor buyers of domestic electric vehicles like the Chevrolet Volt. It should be noted that Toyota repeatedly denied it received any help from the Japanese government to the develop the Prius hybrid.
The denials first came when former Toyota executive, Jim Press, now Chrysler president, said Toyota did have government help. He has backtracked a tad when his comments raised the ire of of Toyota. However, he has since made joking barbs, even as recently as his talk before the Automotive Press Association in Detroit a couple weeks ago.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:29 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Companies , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
what a bunch of whiners. Arent all of those companies making billions in profits? VW is a bit player in the US market so I cant believe they want money from the $25B package.
Posted by: 1487 | October 03, 2008 at 11:22 AM