General Motors and Chrysler were part of a massive multi-billion bailout in 2009. Ford received a $5.9 billion loan guarantee through the DOE's ATVM program in 2009.
And then, after seven years of decline, American auto manufacturers rebounded in 2010. It's difficult to deny that this recovery can be attributed to massive economic support from the Bush and then the Obama administration. GM and Chrysler repaid the emergency funding in 2011. Arguably.
Here's a graph from the DOE website based on data from the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers:
According to Automoblog:
Regardless of political leaning or perhaps free of such constraints, government intervention of the two American auto companies stabilized what could have been a much harsher industry-wide events. What if many more autoworkers would be out of the job? What if the 100th year of Chevrolet had been marred with a giant production blackout continuing to this day? Those and other questions can be answered hypothetically.
Investors Daily reports that:
Car sales are strongly up with automakers reporting U.S. data for all of 2011 Wednesday, as domestic brands overall, led by Chrysler, gained market share. It's good news, but no bonanza, for American manufacturing jobs if upward sales trends continue into 2012.
Chrysler sales shot up in December 37% from a year ago, while at Ford (F) they rose 10% and at General Motors (GM) 5%. Both Chrysler and GM said they expect the industry's seasonally adjusted annual sales rate for the especially brisk month to come in at 13.9 million to 14 million vehicles, when all automakers' results are tallied.
The Big Three U.S. automakers bettered their share of U.S. auto sales to 49.3% in December, up more than two percentage points from a year ago and turning the tables to top Asian makers' 46.3% share, which was down from 49%. In December, Chrysler's market share rose from 19.5% of the domestic makers' sales a year ago to 23.8% as 2012 models of its flagship 300 sedan and midsize 200 proved popular. GM still leads with 40.5%, followed by Ford with 35.6%, according to WardsAuto.