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What's scary is that we know the ACO is talking to Porsche, Ferrari and McLaren about their GT cars. And that we know they'd all like to see them going fighting for overall wins against the many other manufacturers that would probably be interested. (let's not get into how they would make them fast enough without becoming prototypes, all we know is that staying over the 3.30 limit would be somewhat easier)
On the proto side, we have Audi and Peugeot that have been there for much longer than the normal duration of a manufacturer program and that have the diesel inequality complaints to tarnish their victories. We know that both new cars were designed with KERS in mind for next year and maybe the one after that. Prototype entry levels in the LMS and in the ALMS are so low that some say the P1 category could disappear next year in those championships. We know that Aston Martin has a three-year program in mind... if the car can start working at some point. We know that Toyota, Nissan and reportedly many others are taking a look. But the only real case of a manufacturer building a program with a Le Mans win in mind is Acura. Financial crisis or not, it is very hard to argue that the car's results on track against the best cars (diesels) had nothing to do with the program being canned.
The rules have to look as "fair" and promising to manufacturers as they were for Audi an Peugeot when they decided to build diesel LMPs. If no serious manufacturer effort is attracted within the next 2 years, it looks to me like the class will not survive if/when one of the manufacturers currently involved leaves.
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