(Adds Volvo Cars, finmin comments)
By Johan Sennero and Victoria Klesty
STOCKHOLM, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Sweden will provide up to 25 billion crowns ($3.1 billion) in credit guarantees and emergency loans to its ailing auto industry but has no plans to buy stakes in Volvo or Saab, its government said on Thursday.
Both companies have been lined up for sale by their U.S. parents Ford Motor Co and General Motors Corp, which are facing a fight for survival in the firing line of a devastating market downturn.
The centre-right government said in a statement it would provide up to 20 billion crowns in collateral-backed credit guarantees, directed towards the manufacture of more emissions-friendly vehicles, as well as "rescue" loans of up to 5 billion crowns.
It said the measures, which have yet to be approved by lawmakers, were taken with the "clear assumption" that the state would not buy into any existing carmaker.
Finance Minister Anders Borg said the funds would be allocated with the aim of ensuring local manufacturers' research and development projects, as well as production, remained in Sweden.
"We will of course have considerable influence over how the money is used," Borg told a news conference, adding the government would make sure the funds did not "end up with the U.S. owners".
The aid package came after the U.S. House of Representatives late on Wednesday approved legislation to lend up to $14 billion to GM, Ford and Chrysler LLC, though the bill's prospects in the Senate looked uncertain.
The U.S. bailout proposal would extend taxpayer-funded loans or lines of credit to the three U.S. carmakers and create a federal government post of "car czar" to oversee the industry.
Ford and GM had both held talks with the Swedish government over possible support for their struggling local units.
Sweden also pledged to spend 3 billion crowns on automotive research and development through a new state-owned firm.
"We have with these three measures found a structure which allows us, with great responsibility for public finances, to lay the groundwork for solving the real problems of the automotive industry," Finance Minister Borg said.
Maria Bohlin, a spokeswoman for Volvo Car Corporation, said the proposals marked a positive step and "reflect(ed) our discussions with the government fairly well.
"We (now) have to sit down with the government and discuss how this can be made more concrete." (Additional reporting by Anna Ringstrom; Writing by Niklas Pollard; Editing by John Stonestreet)