Crunch watch Dec 08: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard and Simon Stiel Motor Industry 31 December 2008 14:05 Wednesday 31 December 2008• GMAC, GM's finance arm, said it would immediately revise its criteria for providing loans, after the US government bail-out of the General's credit arm. It will now supply credit for anyone with a score of 621 or more on the Fico scale, the scale used to assess Amercian customers' creditworthiness (Financial Times)• The news means that 80% of US consumers would now qualify for a loan from GMAC – which should improve sales in the depressed US market (Detroit News)• Chrysler is being lambasted for taking out full-page adverts in the American national press thanking the nation for supporting its auto industry. But critics point out this is a fresh waste of bail-out resources, as pages in the Wall Street Journal – one of the titles in which the ad ran – reportedly cost up to $264,000.

Mercedes-Benz to launch teen driving school in Los Angeles

Mercedes-Benz is set to launch its first U.S.-based teen driving school in Los Angeles this October. The school will be modeled after one Mercedes launched in the United Kingdom in 2009. A full driver's-education program will incorporate training online, in the classroom and behind the wheel.

New Mercedes B Class Hydrogen Fuel Cell delayed until 2017

Mercedes has decided to delay production of its B Class Hydrogen Fuel Cell car until 2017 as it seeks partners for economy of scale. We learnt last year that the new Mercedes B Class would spawn a version powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, and that Mercedes were planning to launch it in 2014. But that’s now been pushed back to 2017.