(Source: Wall Street Journal)

President Barack Obama’s auto team will spend Monday at the Detroit home of the Big Three as the administration begins to narrow its options for helping the reeling auto sector.

The field trip wraps up nearly three weeks of fact gathering by the team since General MotorsCorp. and Chrysler LLC submitted their rescue plans to the Treasury Department in the hopes of winning billions more in government loans. Ford Motor Co. is not seeking government aid.

Top Treasury Department advisers Steven Rattner and Ron Bloom, who are leading the auto task force, plan to use the day in Detroit to hone an array of lingering questions surrounding the companies’ rescue plans, which many analysts have criticized as overly optimistic. The team will also meet with the United Auto Workers union to discuss its willingness for deep compromises over wages, staff cutbacks and funding for its retiree health plan.

The weeks ahead are filled with peril for both the White House and the auto makers as administration officials face a March 31 deadline for deciding whether to give the companies nearly $22 billion more in federal assistance.

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At issue was how the automakers would fund a Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association, or VEBA. Millions in cash payments were due next year, but the cash-strapped automakers were hoping to talk the union into taking equity in the companies in lieu of real green dollars.

Although the details will differ, the fact that the UAW agreed to take on stock as part of the health care trust at one automaker makes it likely the union will do the same for the other two. The UAW generally gives all three domestic automakers about the same level of concessions to ensure one company is not more financially competitive than the other two.

Under the agreement, which still has to be ratified by union members, Ford has the option of issuing up to 50% of the payment in stock rather than cash. “The agreements, if finalized, will allow Ford to become competitive with foreign automakers’ U.S. manufacturing operations, and are critical to our efforts to operate through the current deep economic downturn without accessing government loans,” says Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s group vice president of labor affairs.

(Source: Yahoo Autos)

If you’re in the market for an ultra fuel-efficienthybrid that makes a convincing family sedan, your best choice has always been a Toyota — until now. Toyota’s Camry Hybrid and Prius have been the only realistic alternatives for many. Most American-built hybrids simply haven’t matched their fuel economy, and the Nissan Altima Hybrid remains rare and hard to find.

A new entrant in the contest, however, may have knocked the Toyotas from their lofty perch.

The automotive press has begun testing the all-new 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid in recent weeks. Two prominent publications have now published comparisons pitting the Fusion Hybrid against its Toyota competition, and the Ford has won both.

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