The two firms, in documents submitted to the Treasury Department,also detailed plans to cut 50,000 jobs worldwide by the end of the year.GM said it plans to close five more plants in the next few years
and confirmed it will drop some of its weaker brands.

When all is said and done,GM (GM, Fortune 500) said that by 2011 itcould need a total of $30 billion, which includes the $13.4 billion inTreasuryloans it has already received. In the near term, GM will most certainlyneed
$9.1 billion in additional loans and could require another $7.5 billion in
the next two years if auto sales don’t improve.

Chrysler said it now needs a total of $9 billion, up from the $4billion Treasury loan it received in December. Chrysler said it willneed that moneyby March 31.

GM also accelerated its job cut plans, saying that it wouldeliminate 47,000 jobs over the course of 2009. The company said itwould cut about20,000 jobs in the United States, or about 22% of its remaining U.S.staff.

Previously, GM called for U.S. job cuts of between 20,000 to 30,000workers, but it had stretched out those reductions through 2012.

The company said it plans to close five additional U.S. plants by2012 –in addition to the 12 planned closings announced in December.Executiveswould not identify the plants that would be closed.

“Our plan is significantly more aggressive because it has to be,” said GM Chairman Rick Wagoner.

Experts said that the request for additional dollars are not asurprise, given how bad auto sales have been since the December pleafor help.

“The most important issue is not what the automakers are going to doto cut costs, but rather what the government is going to do tostimulate carsales,” stated Jeremy Anwyl, CEO of car sales tracker Edmunds.com. “No
automaker is viable under the current market conditions, and so far the
spending package appears to spread money too thin to actually make much of a
difference in any one area.”

Some economists argued that the problems detailed in the plans show that GM and Chrysler are already failed companies.

“When consumers refuse to buy your product, that’s the economytelling you you’re bankrupt,” said Rich Yamarone, director of researchat ArgusResearch. ”

But Yamarone said it may make sense to give them the money theyneed, even if it’s good money after bad, because the battered U.S.economy can’tweather the halt of operations at GM and Chrysler right now.

GM added it plans to phase out the Saturn brand by the middle of2011 if it is unable to sell or spin-off the brand. GM is also lookingto sell itsSaab brand, and will look for help from the Swedish government tosupport
Saab until a buyer is found.

Chrysler said it plans to cut about 3,000 jobs, or 6% of itsworkforce, and reduce capacity by another 100,000 vehicles this year asit tries toadjust to reduced demand. It also said it has won the concessions fromthe
United Auto Workers union and its creditors that were demanded under terms
of the loan from the Treasury Department.

The companies had a deadline of Tuesday to update the government onthe status of their turnaround plans. The new plans highlighted aworseningforecast for sales, and more job cuts at the companies in the comingmonths.

A newly-appointed auto panel will review both plans and determine byMarch 31 if GM and Chrysler can be viable in the long run.Specifically, theTreasury Department is looking for details about the progress of
negotiations with creditors and the UAW.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs issued a statement late Tuesdaysaying that the panel would be reviewing the plans and that “Weappreciate theeffort that these companies and their stakeholders have made.”

The automakers’ request for a $34 billion federal bailout inDecember fell short when Senate Republicans blocked passage of therequest. TheDemocratic majorities in both houses of Congress have grown since then.

While both plans are more than 100 pages each, they have onlylimited details about the latest deals reached with the United AutoWorkers union toshed costs, as well as about GM’s efforts to shed much of its unsecured
debt, as required under the terms of its existing loans.

GM is struggling under a $35 billion mountain of unsecured debt. Ithopes to shed about two-thirds of that debt with a swap of debt forequity withits bond holders.

But the company was not able to reach a deal with the bond holdersby Tuesday’s deadline, although it did include a letter from theircommittee’sfinancial and legal advisers saying that they are “prepared to recommend
that the committee approve and support the bond exchange” proposed by GM.

If the federal panel looking at the plans rules either company isnot viable, it could recall the outstanding loans, a move that wouldlikelyforce them into bankruptcy. In a statement, Chrysler chairman Robert
Nardelli said he believes additional federal help is the best course for
both Chrysler and the battered U.S. economy.

“We believe the requested working capital loan is the least-costlyalternative and will help provide an important stimulus to the U.S.economyand deliver positive results for American taxpayers,” said Nardelli inthe
statement.

To that end, the companies also submitted an analysis of what wouldhappen if it filed for bankruptcy. In a reorganization scenario, GMsaid itmight need up to $100 billion in additional federal loans to financetheir
operations during a two-year reorganization. Chrysler said it would need up
to $20 billion to $25 billion.

If it was forced to liquidate, Chrysler estimated there would be aloss of 2 million to 3 million jobs, resulting in a $150 billionreduction infederal tax revenue over three years.

Nardelli added that a Chrysler bankruptcy would have a “cataclysmic”impact on the auto parts supplier industry, which would affectoperationsand production at all automakers.

The other member of Detroit’s so-called Big Three, Ford Motor (F,Fortune 500), requested a credit line of $9 billion from Congress in
December.

But Ford said it would not to have to tap the line of credit unlessconditions in the auto market and economy deteriorated more thanexpected.

Since then, demand for cars and trucks has gone from bad to worse,with January sales falling to their lowest level in 26 years. Theautomakers andindustry experts have also slashed sales forecasts for 2009 and beyond.

Chrysler has been among the hardest hit in the industry though.Sales plunged 54% from year-earlier levels in December and January, andthecompany left most of its 12 North American assembly plants idledthroughout
January due to weak demand and excess inventory.

In addition to the job and production cuts, the company pledged tofurther lower costs by eliminating a manufacturing shift anddiscontinuingthree models.

“We fully understand the need to adapt to significantly reduced annual U.S. sales,” said Nardelli in Chrysler’s statement.

The company now expects industrywide U.S. sales this year of only10.1 million vehicles, which would be a 40-year low. It believes salesfrom 2010through 2012 will average only 10.8 million a year.

GM’s U.S. sales forecast for 2009 is close to Chrysler’s estimate -around 10.5 million cars and light trucks. But it is far moreoptimisticabout a rebound in sales from 2010-2012.

Separately, UAW president Ron Gettelfinger said in a statementTuesday that the union had “reached tentative understandings withChrysler, Ford andGeneral Motors on modifications to the 2007 national agreements.”

Gettelfinger said “the changes will help these companies face theextraordinarily difficult economic climate in which they operate.” Buthedeclined to disclose specific terms of the tentative agreement and saidthat
discussions were continuing.