Brussels - Europe's carmakers Monday asked governments to provide them with a 40-billion-euro (54-billion-dollar) loan and to approve an incentives scheme for the scrapping of old vehicles to help them develop more environmentally-friendly vehicles at a time of financial and economic crisis.
"Car makers face increasingly hesitant consumers and call on governments to respond, stimulate the economy, relieve the credit crunch and restore consumer confidence," said Christian Streiff, head of the automobile industry's trade association, ACEA.
"Only then will consumers have the means and the confidence to invest in new vehicles," said Streiff, who is also the CEO of PSA Peugeot Citroen.