For carmakers, industry consultants, and creditors inured to the Detroit car industry’s worsening problems, the business plans presented to Congress this week by the carmakers as back-up for their request for federal aid seemed to contain little that was new.

Ford Motor outlined its accomplishments over the past two years in reinventing itself as a leaner company with more fuel-efficient models. Chrysler rolled out familiar figures on the gains it had made in productivity at its plants, which it said rivalled Toyota’s.