By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Ford Motor Co. is asking the US Congress for a $9 billion standby line of credit as a backstop to keep it from running short of cash in 2009 but says it probably will not need the money.
Unless one of the other two major auto companies goes bankrupt, Ford expects to have enough money to make it through next year, it said in a plan that projected the firm will break even or turn a pretax profit in 2011.
Detroit's automakers, making a second bid for $25 billion in funding, are presenting Congress with plans Tuesday to restructure their ailing companies and provide assurances that the funding will help them survive and thrive.
General Motors Corp., Ford and Chrysler LLC said they would refinance their companies' debt, cut executive pay, seek concessions from workers and find other ways of reviving their staggering companies.