Washington  - The US Treasury gave struggling carmaker Chrysler LLC an additional lifeline on Friday, providing 1.5 billion dollars in aid to the manufacturer's financial arm Chrysler Financial.

Chrysler itself has already received 4 billion dollars in emergency loans from the federal government, as part of a 17.4- billion-dollar rescue that also included General Motors Corp.

The fresh injection of funds will come from the 700-billion-dollar financial rescue package passed in October, which was originally designed to help only financial firms but has since been expanded to include the carmaker bail-out.

Ford Motor Company's finance arm Ford Motor Credit is also in talks with the government about possible aid, but would not provide details about what form that assistance could take, Bloomberg financial news reported.

GM's financial arm GMAC LLC received a 6-billion-dollar bail-out last month. US car sales have plummeted as consumers struggled to get car loans amid the continuing financial crisis. (dpa)