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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.

Toyota halts Lexus GX460 sales worldwide

The 2010 Lexus GX460. Sales have been halted due to safety concerns 2010 is turning in to Toyota’s ‘Annus Horribilis’. Its formerly untouchable reputation for producing bullet-proof cars has been severely damaged by the ‘ThottleGate’ problems, with more damage to Toyota’s reputation being caused by their failure to address a problem they seemed to be all too aware of, rather than the problem itself causing the damage.

New Hyundai i30 Premium launches

Hyundai has launched a new range-topping model for the i30 range – the Hyundai i30 Premium – with most of Hyundai’s extras as standard. The latest Hyundai i30 is a very good car indeed, far removed from the cheap and cheerful i30s that went before, offering good looks, decent ride and handling, a comprehensive 5 year warranty and is bolted together as well as any other car in its sector. It’s also very appealing.