Closing in; Big banks are gaining in their pursuit of the captives' auto loan business.(American Honda Finance Corp.)(Chase Auto Finance)

Automotive News, November, 2006 by Harris, Donna

Byline: Donna Harris

Big banks are turning up the heat on automakers' captive finance companies in their competition for retail vehicle-financing business.

The banks see the financial weakness of the Detroit 3 as an opportunity to boost their own portfolios. They also are offering attractive loan rates and terms to buyers of import cars and trucks to improve their positions in that high-growth market.

Captives remain the five biggest U.S. retail auto lenders, but several large banks are closing in.

The captives "are still vital entities,'' says Tom Wirth, president of indirect lending at U.S. Bank. "But GM's and Ford's financial woes have created opportunities for all banks to take a bigger share than they have had in the past.''...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.