Desperate to avoid the hard-landing scenario, the Big Three came up with a plan by December 2. This time GM sought a total of $18 billion-$12 billion in loans and an additional credit line of $6 billion. Ford asked for a credit line of $9 billion, and Chrysler said it needed $7 billion in loans as "an immediate working capital bridge."

The request "demonstrates in detail why GM needs federal funding not just for the company, but to be beneficial to the U.S. economy," said Rick Wagoner, GM's CEO, according to a Bloomberg News report.

GM asked for an emergency loan of $4 billion, and said without immediate government aid it would not be able to pay its bills in December. The largest U.S. automaker said it would need another $4 billion by the end of January to survive. Privately owned Chrysler also faces a cash shortage and needs $7 billion immediately. Ford, which is in a better cash position compared with GM and Chrysler, said that as of September 30 it had $19 billion in cash and $11 billion in available credit lines.

In exchange for federal aid, the automakers have pledged to restructure their operations, reduce their debt and labor costs, eliminate jobs, focus on their core brands and fuel-efficient or electric vehicles, slash executive pay and seek potential mergers or alliances with other automakers to ensure they would be able to repay the government. As part of their concessions, the three companies said they planned to sell their corporate jets and would pay their chief executives an annual salary of $1 with no bonuses during the next couple of years if they used the federal aid.

Given the lack of credit availability, the three automakers have been reducing their capital spending to improve liquidity, including cutting jobs and selling overseas assets since this summer. GM is seeking a buyer for its Hummer sport utility vehicle (SUV) unit in France, while Ford is considering selling its Sweden-based Volvo unit to focus on its namesake brand. Chrysler is moving to split up its Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge operations to make it easier for it to sell an individual brand.

Chrysler did not rule out bankruptcy protection or merger talks as an option, given its reliance on North American sales for some 90 percent of its revenue. GM had actively pushed merger talks with Chrysler in October, but the deal hit an impasse after federal aid hopes faded last month. Analysts argue that Chrysler as a private company lacks transparency in financial information disclosure, which could complicate its efforts to seek aid under the rescue plan.

U.S. lawmakers are supposed to decide this month whether to help the automakers ride out the crisis.