GM steers towards green funding

Troubled American car giant General Motors is attempting to access its share of $25bn of US government funds intended to make cars more environmentally friendly as talks with rivals about some form of merger or strategic joint venture appear to have stalled. By James Quinn, Wall Street Correspondent GM, which this weekend was revealed to have spoken to both Chrysler and Ford in recent months about some form of a tie-up, is understood to be lobbying hard to receive its share of the 'green' funds as soon as possible in order to help with its transition from a manufacturer of gas-guzzling vehicles to smaller and less environmentally damaging cars. The funds were approved by the US House of Representatives last month, but as with many federal assistance programmes, have yet to be forthcoming and it may be some time before they... [read full story]