Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday mocked Mitt Romney for attempting to claim credit for the rebound of the American auto industry, linking the GOP hopeful's past criticism of the Obama administration's rescue plan with his role as the head of venture capital firm Bain Capital.

The setting for Biden's latest attack on Romney was a Chevrolet plant in the southeast corner of Ohio, to a crowd of 450 invited supporters standing before three Chevy Cruze vehicles.

The vice president praised Obama for stepping up to save Big 3 automakers General Motors and Chrysler from "liquidation," to preserve what he called an "iconic industry that helped build the middle class."

Governor Romney also stepped up. He made it clear what he would do," Biden said, referring to Romney's New York Times op-ed piece that was headlined, "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."

He noted Romney now tries to finesse his criticism by saying he advocated for "private equity" to step in, rather than having taxpayer dollars bail out the companies. But if so, Biden asked, why didn't Romney's own company want to invest?

"Governor Romney seems to want it both ways. It's kind of amazing," Biden said. "You'd think I was making this up. ... He said, quote, 'I'll take a lot of credit for the fact that the industry's come back.'