UPDATE 2-GM's Energy Dept loan now contingent on US review

Mon Apr 6, 2009 11:24pm BST
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(Adds details on loan, Volt, byline)

By Jui Chakravorty Das

NEW YORK, April 6 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp's GM.N request for $10.3 billion in loans under a U.S. Department of Energy program is now contingent on the automaker's 60-day restructuring review, a top GM executive said on Monday.

"Treasury wants to fully understand what our ultimate destiny is before giving us that (DOE) loan," GM Vice President of Research and Development and Strategic Planning Larry Burns told Reuters on the sidelines of a product briefing on Monday.

The Energy Department program has earmarked about $25 billion in low-cost loans for the auto industry to support development of fuel-efficient vehicles.

President Barack Obama last week rejected GM's turnaround plans that were submitted as part of the company's requests for more than $16 billion in additional federal aid.

GM, which has lost about $82 billion since 2005, has already received more than $13 billion in federal aid.

Obama ordered GM to accelerate its survival efforts and brace for possible bankruptcy, saying it had not done enough to justify the taxpayer money it was seeking.

The White House-appointed autos task force has given GM 60 days to come up with a restructuring plan that cuts costs and debt levels more deeply than the automaker had planned.  Continued...

 
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