The task force is shaping the Obama administration's response to the industry's crisis, and to requests from GM and Chrysler for up to $21 billion in new aid.
Gordon Trowbridge and Alisa Priddle -
The Detroit News - Mar. 9, 2009
Now we wait... --Ed.
Members of a presidential task force on the auto industry crisis in Detroit on Monday discussed supplier struggles, Chrysler's potential partnership with Fiat and other aspects of what an administration official involved in the talks called "big challenges" for the domestic carmakers.
"There's no question we recognize the urgency of the situation," the administration official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, told The Detroit News after top advisers to the task force met with officials from General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC and the United Auto Workers.
The group included Steve Rattner and Ronald Bloom, two top advisers to the cabinet-level task force President Barack Obama appointed last month. The group toured GM's Technical Center in Warren, where members were able to test-drive technology going into the Chevrolet Volt hybrid electric car, and Chrysler's Warren Truck Assembly plant and saw the company's hybrid and electric-vehicle technology.
"It was obviously very important for members of the auto team to get out of Washington and get an opportunity to see these companies up close, and we had that chance today," the administration official said.
The administration official would not comment on when the administration might pass judgment on the companies' restructuring plans or their requests for up to $21 billion in new aid.
"We have been and will continue to work as hard and tirelessly as we can," the official said. "This is obviously a very substantial undertaking and we want to move with all deliberate haste."
The group spent most of the day in Detroit, visiting UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and other union officials in the morning before...
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