DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors and Chrysler said Tuesday their request for federal aid ballooned to a staggering $39 billion -- only months after receiving billions in loans -- in new plans that envision massive job losses and intense restructuring to survive a deepening recession.
General Motors Corp. presented a survival plan that calls for cutting a total of 47,000 jobs globally and closing five more U.S. factories, a move that represents the largest work force reduction announced by a U.S. company in the economic meltdown. Chrysler LLC said it will cut 3,000 more jobs and stop producing three vehicle models.
The grim reports came as the United Auto Workers union said it had reached a tentative agreement with GM, Chrysler and Ford Motor Co. on contract changes. Concessions with the union and debt-holders were a condition of the government bailout.
GM said it could need up to $30 billion from the Treasury Department, up from a previous estimate of $18 billion. That includes $13.4 billion the company has already received. The world's largest automaker said it could run out of money by March without new funds and needs $2 billion next month and another $2.6 billion in April.
"We have a lot of work to do," GM Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said. "We're still going at this with a great sense of urgency."
GM's request includes a credit line of $7.5 billion to be used if the downturn is more pronounced than expected. But the automaker claimed it could be profitable in two years and repay its loans by 2017.
The company looked into three bankruptcy scenarios, all of which would cost the government more than $30 billion, GM Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson said. The worst scenario would cost $100 billion because GM's revenue would severely drop, he said.
Although little is known about whether people would buy cars from a bankrupt automaker, some research "suggests that sales fall off a cliff," Henderson said.
Chrysler LLC requested $5 billion in new loans on top of the $4 billion it received in December. That's $2 billion more than expected.
Both requests were part of restructuring plans the two automakers owed the government in exchange for earlier loans.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who will lead an Obama administration task force reviewing the plans, said his team would meet "later this week to analyze the companies' plans and to solicit the full range of input from across the administration."
GM and Chrysler plan to reduce the number of models they offer. GM raised the possibility its Saturn brand could be phased out and said its Swedish-based Saab unit could file bankruptcy this month.
The GM job cuts include 10,000 salaried and 37,000 blue-collar positions, amounting to 19 percent of its current global work force of 244,500. Jobs outside the U.S. account for 26,000 of the reductions.
Chrysler had 54,007 employees at the end of 2008, so Tuesday's cuts would equal about 6 percent of its work force.
