Ford has a slim (very slim) chance of coming out the other side of this economic downturn.

GM has almost none, as does Chrysler.

There are too many cars on the roads now -- there are more cars than there are drivers. The Obama administration is already proposing allowing California to write the de facto emissions standards as well as fuel mileage standards. The US auto companies have far too high a cost structure, there is too much production capacity for the future demand. 

They're going to go bankrupt sooner or later. Probably later, since the current political environment will prop them up longer than they'd stay afloat otherwise, but after auto demand does not come back for several years, hard choices will have to be made.

There's no way I see an owner of common stock making out well. Trade them if you want, but they're a very high risk investment.