Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- European Union Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said car manufacturers will get ``not a cent'' beyond existing help for research and development projects, dashing automakers' hopes of loans to counter the credit crisis.

Volkswagen AG and PSA Peugeot Citroen, the region's two biggest carmakers, are among those pushing the EU for 40 billion euros ($51 billion) in cheap loans to help overcome plunging sales across Europe. General Motors Corp's Adam Opel unit has appealed to German Chancellor Angela Merkel for extra incentives for buyers on top of those already agreed to stem the decline.

``Nobody in the commission believes that there's a need for this,'' Verheugen said in an interview in Berlin yesterday. ``We're considering expanding credit for research and development but that's it -- not a cent for anything else.''

The EU is examining support for carmakers as it prepares to impose caps on auto emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, and seeks to prevent the financial crisis from causing a prolonged economic slump. Any EU aid would follow $25 billion in low-interest loans that U.S. rivals including GM and Ford Motors Corp. are set to receive.

The European Investment Bank, the 27-nation EU's lending arm, is now considering a ``clean transport facility'' to top up existing loans for carmakers, said press spokesman Nick Antonovics, who rejected calls by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, or ACEA, for any further assistance.

``We're not in the business of providing consumer credit for cars,'' Antonovics said, noting the EIB last year disbursed 2 billion euros to the industry for R&D projects.

Opel Letter

Still, some cash-strapped carmakers are demanding further assistance. Opel, the German division of Detroit-based GM which warned Nov. 7 it may run short of operating cash by the end of June 2009, wrote a letter to Merkel last week which the government received ``over the weekend'' demanding further measures to tempt customers to make purchases.

To encourage new sales, the German government should offer premiums to car owners for scrapping vehicles that are at least 10 years old and rework tax policies enacted Nov. 5, said Joerg Schrott, a spokesman for Russelsheim-based Opel.

New rules, which suspend car tax for two years for buyers of low-pollution vehicles while granting a 12-month break to consumers purchasing higher-polluting so-called Euro 4 cars, ``unduly'' benefit buyers of gas-guzzlers, said Schrott.

With slowing economic growth denting government revenue, Germany's government may be unable to offer help beyond the stimulus package sealed by Cabinet last week, said Rainer Wend, a lawmaker of the ruling Social Democrats.

``We have already done quite a lot,'' Wend told ARD television. ``We won't be able to fully match Opel's expectations.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Parkin in Berlin at bparkin@bloomberg.net; Andreas Cremer in Berlin at bparkin@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 11, 2008 11:30 EST