WASHINGTON — General Motors, increasingly desperate for a federal bailout to stave off financial collapse, told Congress on Tuesday that it was willing to drastically shrink every aspect of its operations to ensure its long-term survival.
On the same day that the industry reported its worst sales month in 26 years, the three Detroit automakers delivered new business plans to lawmakers in the hope of winning support for $34 billion in federal loans.
While the timing was coincidental, the dismal November sales report underscored the perilous financial condition of G.M., the Ford Motor Company and Chrysler.
Their combined loan request was substantially higher than the $25 billion that the three companies had initially hoped to get from Congress two weeks ago.
The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said on Tuesday that she had spoken with President Bush by phone on Monday about the need to help the auto industry and that she believed some sort of rescue would be provided, either legislatively or by the Bush administration.
“I think it’s pretty clear that bankruptcy is not an option,” Ms. Pelosi said. But she said that the companies’ revamping plans must first pass muster among skeptical lawmakers who sent executives of the Big Three home from Washington empty-handed last month.
But G.M., the world’s largest automaker for decades, said Tuesday that it was in such dire straits that it would deeply cut jobs, factories, brands and executive pay as part of its plea to get $12 billion in federal loans and an additional $6 billion line of credit. G.M. also promised that it could be competitive on labor costs with Toyota by 2012.
G.M.’s president, Frederick A. Henderson, said the company would be insolvent if it did not receive federal assistance, including an infusion of $4 billion in cash before the end of the year.
“Absent support, frankly the company simply can’t fund its operations,” Mr. Henderson said in a call with reporters.
Chrysler, the smallest of the Detroit companies, is in similar difficulty, and asked Congress for a $7 billion loan before the end of December to ward off a potential bankruptcy.
Ford said in its plan that it could survive through 2009 with its current cash levels and by tapping its credit line with private banks, and that it could return to profitability by 2011. Even though it is better prepared for the downturn, Ford said it wanted $9 billion in loans to draw upon if necessary.
Ford’s chief executive, Alan R. Mulally, said the prospect of a failure of G.M. would cascade through the entire domestic auto industry and put millions of jobs at risk.
“We are very, very concerned, and that’s why we went with G.M. and Chrysler to Congress even though we think we have sufficient liquidity,” he said in an interview.
Mr. Mulally will appear at Congressional hearings Thursday and Friday in Washington along with Rick Wagoner, G.M.’s chairman, and Robert L. Nardelli, Chrysler’s chairman.
Together, they will try to persuade lawmakers to act quickly on the loan requests at a special lame-duck session of Congress next week.
There is only a narrow window for Congress to settle on any aid package for the automakers. Democratic leaders have said that they will not let the debate become a prolonged procedural fight, and they have little interest in keeping lawmakers in town past next Friday.
Senior Democratic aides say that if a deal cannot be sealed by then, they have little choice but to wait until after the new Congress is sworn in and, if there are still disagreements with the Bush administration, until after Barack Obama’s inauguration.
Congressional leaders were still reviewing the plans Tuesday. Ms. Pelosi said the companies had clear benchmarks that they needed to meet.
“We want to see a commitment to the future,” she said. “We want to see a restructuring of the approach, that they have a new business model, a new business plan. There has to be compensation reform.”
The White House so far has resisted calls for any new taxpayer aid for the automobile industry but instead has pushed for Congressional action to speed up $25 billion in federally subsidized loans that were authorized in an energy bill last year to encourage advanced fuel efficiency.
But in an apparent hint of flexibility in the Bush administration’s stance, Tony Fratto, the deputy White House press secretary, said on Tuesday that the White House would examine the proposals from the automakers.
“We’ll want to take a look at their plans in detail and see if they meet a credible test for viability,” Mr. Fratto said. “We’re pleased to see that everyone is now on board with what we’ve been saying for some time — that a credible plan for financial viability is necessary if we’re even to consider taxpayer assistance.”
The revelation that G.M. is on the verge of running out of cash will lend new urgency to the discussions.
While Mr. Henderson declined to say whether G.M. would file for bankruptcy protection if the loans were not approved, he made it clear that in a few weeks’ time, the automaker would fall below the minimum levels of cash it needed to operate.
“The first $4 billion is crucial,” he said. “We wouldn’t have asked for the $4 billion if we didn’t need it.”
To make its case for the loans, G.M. said it would make top-to-bottom cuts in its money-losing North American operations.
G.M. said it planned to focus on four core brands — Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC — and sell, eliminate or consolidate the Saturn, Saab, Hummer and Pontiac brands.
Despite having downsized its operations in the last three years, G.M. said it would cut more than 20 percent of its remaining jobs, shut nine factories, seek to renegotiate the terms of $66 billion in debt, and push to reopen contract talks with the United Automobile Workers to reduce labor costs.
The cutbacks will extend into the executive ranks as well. Mr. Wagoner and G.M.’s board members will reduce their compensation to $1 in 2009, and the company will sell its corporate jets. Despite widespread speculation about Mr. Wagoner’s job security, his board gave him another vote of support on Tuesday.
Mr. Wagoner is scheduled to drive to Washington in a Chevrolet Malibu hybrid vehicle, a concession to criticism from lawmakers who chided the Detroit executives for flying on private aircraft to last month’s hearings.
Mr. Mulally was en route to Washington on Tuesday in a Ford Escape hybrid, and Mr. Nardelli was set to leave drive in one of Chrysler’s hybrid S.U.V.’s.
The criticism from Congress about jet travel and big executive paychecks hit home, Mr. Mulally said during a telephone interview from the road, as he was traveling through the state of Ohio.
“Its all part of a learning experience for me,” he said. “I think it’s really important that I drive to Washington to show that Ford gets what Congress is saying.”
In their companies’ plans, both Mr. Mulally and Mr. Nardelli said they would take $1-a-year salaries if the loan packages were approved. Ford also said it would sell off its corporate aircraft.
In its plan, G.M. acknowledged “that it had made mistakes in the past,” but said its revamping costs since 2006 had consumed “a substantial portion of its resources.”
Still, the company said it would have been able to survive on its own if not for the continued deterioration of the United States vehicle market, because of the weakening economy and tight credit, which has made it difficult for consumers who do wander into dealerships to get loans.
“The company would not require government assistance were it not for the drastic collapse of the U.S. economy which has devastated the company’s current revenues and liquidity,” G.M. said.
G.M. said its plan would create a “new General Motors,” that will be significantly smaller and more competitive.
The company said it would sell off its Hummer and Saab brands, shrink its Pontiac brand into a niche vehicle division, and explore opportunities to sell, close or consolidate the Saturn brand that — when it was started in the 1980s — was supposed to be G.M.’s answer to the smaller, fuel-efficient cars sold by Japanese competitors.
G.M. also said it planned to reduce the number of salaried and hourly workers in the United States workers from 96,000 currently, to 65,000 to 75,000 by 2012. It will also reduce its North American factories from 47 to 36, and its dealers from 6,450 and 4,700.
While it moves to downsize its operations, G.M. is setting up tough negotiations ahead with its bondholders and the U.A.W.
Mr. Henderson said that G.M. would try to negotiate a reduction in its debt from $66 billion, to about $35 billion. While he would not elaborate, the company was expected to ask bondholders to take equity in exchange for reducing their payout on long-term bonds.
G.M. will also seek to cut its labor costs by reopening its contract with the U.A.W. Possible cost cuts in the contract include eliminating job security provisions, including the so-called jobs bank that pays idled workers when their plants close.
The union’s president, Ron Gettelfinger, is scheduled to meet Wednesday with top U.A.W. officials in Detroit to consider how to negotiate the concessions that G.M. says it needs to survive.
Both Ford and Chrysler will likely want similar concessions from the union.
Mr. Gettelfinger has said he is willing to go back to the bargaining table to help the companies survive the economic downturn.
In its request for $7 billion in loans, Chrysler said it would continue to cut costs through negotiations with its suppliers and unions. The company, which is privately owned by Cerberus Capital Management, expects to reduce its structural costs by another $4 billion next year.
In their plans, all three companies said they would accelerate their timetables to make more fuel-efficient vehicles, with Ford saying for the first time that it would bring out all-electric models within two years.