Top executives from General Motors and Chrysler are planning to tell senators this afternoon that the companies have to dramatically slash the number of dealers that sell their vehicles if they are to survive.

According to the Associated Press, which has copies of the statements that GM's Fritz Henderson and Chrysler's James Press plan to deliver at a 2:30 p.m. ET Senate Commerce Committee hearing, the executives will say "that there are too many dealers and the networks date from the 1940s and 1950s when motorists lived farther apart and Detroit automakers led the world in sales."

Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., plans to say that what the automakers are doing is "just plain wrong."

"I don't believe that companies should be allowed to take taxpayer funds for a bailout and then leave local dealers and their customers to fend for themselves with no real notice and no real
help," Rockefeller's prepared statement reads, according to the AP.

The hearing is to be wecast here

On All Things Considered yesterday, Henderson said GM could be profitable again in two to three years. And he said his company is not conceding the No. 1 spot in sales.

Update at 2:45 p.m. ET: The statements by the executives and Rockefeller are now posted here.