In announcing their request for the aid in a package of low-interest loans, worth about $55 billion, the carmakers called on the European Union "to ensure the future of car manufacturing in Europe and reinforce the momentum in consumer demand for fuel-efficient vehicles."

They also called for incentives to scrap vehicles more than eight years old, during a period of 36 months, to accelerate fleet renewal.

"Car makers face increasingly hesitant consumers and call on governments to respond, stimulate the economy, relieve the credit crunch and restore consumer confidence. Only then will consumers have the means and the confidence to invest in new vehicles", said Christian Streiff, president of the the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, known as ACEA, and chief executive of PSA Peugeot Citroën.

The association, which represents the 15 European makers of cars and trucks — including the European operations of General Motors, Toyota Motor and Ford Motor — has been trying to head off or water down the imposition of tough new standards. The automakers argue that the regulations will add about €1,500 to the cost of each vehicle.

they are murdering their own industries stupid morons

But last month, the Environment Committee of the European Parliament voted to mandate that new cars sold in Europe emit an average of 130 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer by 2012, compared with a current European average of 158 grams per kilometer. Automakers who failed to reach the target could face fines.

The full Parliament will vote on the provision as early as mid-November, after which it would still need the approval of European governments. Chancellor Angela Merkel opposes the targets, and France, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, is reportedly seeking to make them more palatable to the automakers.

Last Tuesday, President George W. Bush signed a spending bill that included $25 billion in low-cost loans for Detroit. The carmakers — GM, Ford and Chrysler — are expected to seek at least another $25 billion in the next two years. Access to the loans will save the companies hundreds of millions of dollars in interest as they retool older plants to make more fuel-efficient cars. While the details of the U.S. package are unclear, it appears that the loans will not be available for the U.S. operations of overseas automakers, because of a stipulation that the plants be at least 20 years old.

"We've seen that the U.S. industry is now getting $25 billion worth of support in terms of financing," Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of Fiat, told Bloomberg News in an interview Friday at the Paris Motor Show. "It would be absolutely necessary that the European Commission do exactly the same thing. It was $25 billion for the U.S., in our case it's €40 billion because we have twice the capacity."

Without a bailout, the European automakers would lose competitiveness relative to their American rivals, Daniel Schwarz, an auto analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt, said. "There seems to be wide agreement that the industry needs help to meet the new target."

The global auto industry is suffering from the economic slowdown as high gasoline prices have compound worries about job insecurity and reduced consumers' willingness to spend. The credit crisis, meanwhile, has made it harder for those who are seeking new vehicles to obtain car loans.

European new-car registrations fell by 15.6 percent in August from a year earlier, according the European carmakers' association. U.S. auto sales fell 26.6 percent in September from a year earlier, to 964,000 vehicles, according to the research firm Autodata. That marked the first time since 1993 that fewer than one million vehicles were sold there in a single month. Analysts estimate that the credit crisis reduced U.S. sales by as many as 100,000 vehicles in the last week of September. Schwarz predicted that 2009 would be even worse.

The European automakers assocations said that scrapping older cars would "accelerate the take-up of fuel-efficient technologies" and renew the car fleet, with clear environmental benefits. Replacing cars older than eights years old would cut carbon dioxide emissions by 4.5 percent from the current total, they said.

"It's reallly a race for scale in the fuel-saving technologies," Schwarz said, and one way for the companies to attain a profitable scale is by encouraging consumers to buy the newer vehicles, perhaps with tax incentives.

They've conducted tests comparing 10 year old cars with new ones. The older ones were more fuel efficient and the newer ones were heavier. The amount of energy needed to manufacture a new vehicle, negates the environmental advantage

Klausbarbie wrote:

They've conducted tests comparing 10 year old cars with new ones. The older ones were more fuel efficient and the newer ones were heavier. The amount of energy needed to manufacture a new vehicle, negates the environmental advantage

they just want 2 price car ownership out of the reach of the working man

As they've done with computers, printers and the maintenance of such

Last Tuesday, President George W. Bush signed a spending bill that included $25 billion in low-cost loans for Detroit. The carmakers

That's not fair you commie bastards.