With the perfect of storm of an economic slowdown and $4 gas, U.S. automakers have found themselves in some of the most dire straits the industry has ever faced. But, despite the bleak out, Senator John McCain says he would not support a Big Three bailout if elected to the White House.
The government has already pulled Chrysler back from the brink once, but no such plans would be enacted if McCain was voted to office. “Frankly I just don’t see a scenario where the federal government would come in and bail out any industry in America today,” McCain told The Detroit News.
Instead, McCain said U.S. automakers should focus on producing smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.
However, as seen by the Senator’s $300 million battery grant proposal, McCain says that he would fully support further government funding of battery and other green tech research.
In a bit of good news for the automakers, McCain said he is supportive of a nationwide CO2 standard, rather than a patchwork of regulations set by individual states. A single federal standard would save automakers billions in production costs.
