Britain's car industry is to get help in the shape of a £2bn loan guarantee scheme from the Government.
Bentley is one of many marques that has cut production
The Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said £1.3bn worth of loans from the European Investment Bank would be guaranteed, as well as £1bn of loans for "worthwhile investments".
He told the House of Lords the Government was committed to making sure anything backed by the scheme offered value for taxpayers.
"This industry is not a lame duck and this is no bail-out," he said.
The industry was in "the front line" of the economic downturn and its output was "falling faster and further than any other sector," he said.
"The automotive industry is vital to the strength of manufacturing in Britain and is at the heart of many of our regional industries.
"For the future Britain needs an economy with less financial engineering and more real engineering."
Mandelson Speaks To Sky
Lord Mandelson said the measures would make the industry greener and more productive.
And he added that the guarantees would back up investments in research and development.
But the package did not amount to a blank cheque, he insisted, and applications would be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Derek Simpson of the union Unite, told Sky News' Jeff Randall Live show he is happy the Government has made a start "because it was important that something was done".
He added: "Even if it's only guaranteeing loans it will make a contribution but the amount is not really not going to be sufficient, we believe, to stave off the loss of jobs, skilled jobs once lost will not ever return."
The Conservatives were unimpressed with the measures.
In his response, the new shadow business secretary Ken Clarke said the package had come to late.
Debating with business minister Ian Pearson in the Commons, Mr Clarke asked: "Can the new trade minister (Lord Mandelson) be asked through the minister (Mr Pearson), to do something to improve the Government's competence, its ability to keep up with events, and its ability to produce programmes which work?"
In the Upper House, Lord Hunt of Wirral said the package was too little, too late and told peers "after years of persecuting the motorist, ministers now offer a range of placebos to an industry facing the worst crisis it has ever faced".
The British government has announced a £2.3 billion package of aid to attempt to support the country's car manufacturing industry.
Peter Mandelson 
Lord Peter Mandelson, the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform announced to the House of Lords that the government planned to obtain £1.3 billion from the European Investment Bank for the industry. A further £1 billion loan is available if the industry agrees to invest it in environmentally friendly vehicles.

Mandleson told the Lords that the industry is vital to the British economy, which with "near one million employees from manufacturing to retailing" provides "£10 billion worth of added value to the economy." However, he stressed that the government was not providing a "blank cheque" and would not provide operating subsidies.

His newly-appointed shadow Kenneth Clarke told the House of Commons that the plans were "pretty small beer" and repeated the Conservative charge that the government was "dithering" in the face of the downturn. Liberal Democrat John Thurso also expressed disappointment in the plans.