GMAC to offer new dealership incentives

[rickaren]

GMAC to offer new dealership incentives

Posted Friday, Sep 25, 2009, 1:47 pm in Employee News

GMAC Financial Services, the former financing arm of General Motors Co., is making a new push to recapture its share in the auto financing business by offering incentives to its most loyal dealers, the Associated Press reported.

The government-subsidized lender, starting Oct. 1, will offer cash incentives and services to its U.S. dealers, spokeswoman Sue Mallino said Thursday, the AP reported. The program will be called Ally Dealer Rewards—named after its newly rebranded consumer banking arm Ally Bank—although the program will be administered by GMAC’s automotive unit, the news service said.

Mallino told reporters that GMAC’s decision to brand the program under its Ally name signals the growing importance of the brand. GMAC rebranded its banking division earlier this year, hoping to smooth over its image and lure new customers after its ailing finances forced it to accept billions of dollars in government assistance, the AP said.

According to the news service, the program will not have any bearing on GMAC’s lending to consumers seeking auto loans, Mallino said. The move is GMAC’s latest effort to recapture its once-dominant share in the auto financing market. Recently, the company became the preferred lender for Chrysler Group LLC and has begun offering leasing again to both GM and Chrysler customers, the story said. (Associated Press)