The Canadian government announced plans today to offer GM, Chrysler up to $4 billion in bridge loans to continue operations.

Under the announced plan today, the Canadian government will earmark $1 billion for Chrysler, $250 million of witch will become available immediately, and an additional $500 million by sometime in April. Part of the deal, Chrysler must interest notes equal to 6.67% of the aggregate loan.

GM would receive the remaining $3 billion. Read the full story

GM CEO Rick Wagoner, 56, has just announced he will be stepping down from his post because of pressure from the Obama administration. Wagoner has worked at GM during his entire career, joining GM’s treasury department in 1977 immediately following earning his MBA from Harvard.

GM and Chrysler have already received $17.4 billion in loans since December 2008. GM and Chrysler collectively say they need an additional $21.6 billion in loans just to survive. Ford says it will not require any more government help to wither out the financial crisis.

The news comes as Obama is set to unveil his new round of emergency government bailout loans for the auto sector Monday 11AM EST. Obama says the big three have not yet done enough to restructure.

It is currently unclear as to who will replace Wagoner.

According to newly released data by Autodata, US car sales pumped once again in February by 41% to 688,909 cars, the lowest monthly sales figures since 1981. Deliveries for the month were up 4.9% over January.  GM had the fewest vehicle sales, down 53% to 127,296 vehicles in February. GM’s market share fell to 18.2% from 22.7% as a result of the poor sales. GM says the figures are the worst in over 40 years. GM is now seeking about $16.6 billion in new loans from the U.S. fed, on top of the $13.4 billion already approved. Ford sales fell by 48% to 96,044 cars in February, but the company says it will not seek additional federal aid.

The Bush Administration today has approved an emergency bail out for the Big 3 US Automakers to the tune of $17.4 billion. Bush said “it would worsen a weak job market and exacerbate the financial crisis,” if a bailout was not implemented. President-elect Barack Obama also praised the bailout. $13.4 billion will become available within the next two weeks or ago, while the remainder will become available in Jan. There are reports an additional $4 billion could become available in Feb 09. GM will get the most out of the plan with $9.4 billion; the rest will be split evenly between Ford and Chrysler, who will get $4 billion each. The Big 3 need to particularly reduce labour costs and build better vehicles to sustain their companies in the future, otherwise, we run the risk of more bailouts, and ultimately the insolvency if these fundamental problems are not addressed. I personally believe we all needed this bailout as the collapse of the automakers would have caused significant and irreversible harm to everyone particularly in the US and Canada. Please see this report that highlights possible job losses if the automakers went under, and my article that highlights my thoughts on a GM bailout.

Ottawa has announced it will pledge up to $2.8 billion in aid to the auto-sector in Canada, a proportional amount in terms of Canada’s 20% North American auto sector share. However, there is one big catch. Washington must budge first for those funds to become available. Canadian Industry Minister, Tony Clement, said at a conference the other day “we expect the American administration to announce something very soon,” and he also said that he believes a US bailout is imminent. Most recently, yesterday, the US Congress failed to pass $14 billion bailout, and GM subsequently announced massive production cuts that saw the temporary layoff of 3,000 people. I do believe a US bailout will come very soon, but the question remains, can GM, Chrysler, and Ford remain competitive and cut costs, or is this bailout going to lead to a cyclical pattern of more bailouts? The question remains, but I know one thing for sure, the people and the economy will suffer a great pain if they go under, and that’s why there will be a bailout.

US Congress is set to vote on the $25 billion bailout for the top three automakers that is aimed to help stabilize the American auto industry later today starting at 10am. It is believed the movement doesn’t have enough support for the bill to be approved. The automakers have warned that if they don’t get help soon and if they all were to fail, the government would lose more than $150 billion in annual tax revenue and aggregately, more than 3 million people would lose their jobs.

Not everyone is on board with the bailout. People argue that these companies made bad business decisions; therefore they should be allowed to fail. Wyoming Republican Mr. Enzi doesn’t believe the big three should be bailed out and was quoted as saying that the bail out would be “another check issued by the taxpayer to solve a long-term problem with a short-term solution.” The Bush Administration supports helping the big three with the previously approved $25 billion fund, but not with new funding. Out of the big three, GM desperately needs cash now the most as it’s about to become insolvent by about March 09 which will have a profound impact on everyone if it goes under. GM also recently sold all of its stake in Suzuki to get much needed cash back. Chrysler is likely the best suited as it actually has about $11 billion cash on hand.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced today that the big three Detroit automakers will be getting part of the $700 billion government bail out. Pelosi did not confirm how much money the companies will get but they are asking a combined $25 billion in loans. The amount of money that will be given to GM should be sufficient to bailout GM, which desperately needs a cash infusion or it will run out of money entirely by early March 2009. Pelosi said that the big three would need to develop better, more fuel efficient vehicles and restructure “to ensure their long-term economic viability” as a condition part of the deal.

United Auto Workers President Gettelfinger told reporters that automakers are struggling because of problems beyond their control, including the credit crisis. He also said that union labor costs are not the main problem and they only account for up to 10% of any vehicles cost made by the big three (GM, Chrysler, Ford). I personally believe the union is cutting into their bottom and line and making them less competitive because the other foreign automakers don’t pay nearly as much in total labor cost per vehicle.

I said it before that GM will be bailed and that we should bail GM out because if it fails, a catastrpohic chain reaction will hit the economy hard that could eliminate 1 million jobs alone. The Center for Automotive Research has also warned that the collapse of the Big Three could eliminate up to 3 million jobs and more than $150 billion in tax revenue for the US Fed over the next three years. However, all 3 wouldn’t fail, but even GM alone would hit everyone hard, especially the people of Detriot, which could result in more foreclosures. Scary stuff.