Detroit Plans A Plan

OK, Detroit, you've got one more chance to make the sale.

After failing this week to convince Congress they deserve emergency financial assistance to avoid bankruptcy, U.S. carmakers have until Dec. 2 to come up with proof that they won't blow the money if government aid is provided.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said that before Congress votes on an aid package, "it is essential that we see some restructuring, some path to viability, from the auto industry."

In Congressional hearings this week, the CEOs of General Motors (nyse:GM - news - people ), Ford Motor(nyse: F - news - people ) and Chrysler insisted they had solid restructuring plans under way before consumer confidence collapsed along with auto sales over the past 60 days.

But putting a fresh shine on those same arguments and binding them into a fancy notebook won't be enough to convince reluctant lawmakers to free up federal aid. Like a car salesman tossing in free floor mats to close a deal, automakers will need to come up with some extra spiffs as a show of goodwill.

Cutting back on executive trappings--like the corporate jets Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli, GM CEO G. Richard Wagoner and Ford CEO Alan Mulally flew down to D.C. for their Congressional hearing on Tuesday--will help. So will promises by the CEOs to forgo their multimillion dollar salaries and bonuses. Neither of these gestures will save their companies, but they will make an aid package easier to sell to taxpayers.

A spokesman for Pelosi says that the house speaker plans to send a letter in the next few days to the automakers to outline the types of things Democrats would like to see in their plans.