Ford and Nissan to tap factory retool loans: report

(Reuters) - The U.S. government plans to disclose that Ford Motor Co, Tesla Motors Inc and Nissan Motor Co will be among the beneficiaries of a $25 billion loan program created by Congress to help auto makers retool factories for advanced-technology vehicles, the Wall Street Journal said.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu is planning an announcement on Tuesday morning in Michigan, the paper said, citing government officials familiar with the matter.

A spokeswoman for Chu and spokesmen for Ford, Tesla and Nissan declined to comment in the report.

The U.S. Energy Department, Ford and Tesla could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters.

Nissan said on Tuesday it expects its electric vehicle output in the United States to have an initial capacity of more than 100,000 vehicles a year.

Nissan had chosen a site in Tennessee to make electric vehicles and batteries, Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Nissan and French partner Renault told reporters after Nissan' annual shareholders' meeting.

(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore and Chang-Ran Kim in Yokohoma, Japan; editing by Mike Nesbit)