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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.

'Monster' Tajima breaks his own record at Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima used the extra pavement to his advantage and smashed his old Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record by more than 10 seconds on June 26, with a finishing time of 9 minutes, 51.278 seconds. Tajima's old record of 10 minutes, 1.408 seconds was set in 2007. Hyundai driver Rhys Millen came in second in the Unlimited class with a time of 10 minutes, 9.24 seconds.

Supermarkets cut fuel prices

LATE SUMMER driving will be less expensive following supermarket fuel price cuts. From tomorrow Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco are all reducing the cost of their petrol and diesel by 2p a litre. In Asda's case, the reduction means its customers will pay no more than 126.7p a litre for petrol, with diesel being 129.7p a litre - its lowest price since January 2011.