As it sells its fleet business to Investec and waves goodbye to its international insurance services division, GMAC in the UK looks closer than ever to settling its identity after several confusing years.
Interestingly, given that founding parent General Motors now has only a minority stakeholding in the lender, that identity seems to be as a committed point of sale partner to GM-owned Vauxhall Motors.
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Indeed, just about everything but dealer finance and insurance has fallen by the wayside for GMAC in January this year, it announced it would be transitioning out of the commercial finance market, while October saw the sale of the European component of the groups residential mortgage arm.
At the end of November, the international insurance services division of GMACs insurance unit was sold to Maiden Holdings. Then, on 3 December, it was announced the groups UK contract hire business, Masterlease UK, had been sold to Investec Capital Markets.
At the same time as all of this, Vauxhall Finance was reintroduced as GMACs consumer-facing UK brand in October.
Spokeswoman Susanne Gehrling says: "The move was put into place following positive consumer research with both Vauxhall retailers and our end-customers. In both cases, the research showed a positive impact in awareness and ease of understanding."
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By GlobalDataThe GMAC brand has therefore been removed from sight of the consumer, just as it has vanished at the groups top level May saw GMAC Inc in the US rebranded as Ally Financial Inc, as the group sought to build an identity for itself beyond GM.
Allys businesses outside the US continue to trade as GMAC, however.
In its home markets, Ally maintains lines of business beyond car finance in mortgages and commercial finance, with a subsidiary, Ally Bank, offering online retail banking products. In Europe, however, the paring down of GMAC into a dealer finance provider has reduced the need for a separate brand.
Will the Ally brand spread to Europe? Ally says it will stay as GMAC in the UK "at this time".
Regardless of branding, GMAC appears to be performing well in its role as a funder for Vauxhall, with dealer finance volumes up year-on-year in 2010 to date.
Gehrling adds: "GMAC UKs penetration rates increased considerably during recent quarters, although we do not give detailed penetration rates. Besides being a preferred lender for wholesale new car business, GMAC UK has continued to broaden used car financing and saw considerable growth there."
Market share seems to be on the up too, with GMAC claiming that 2010 has been a record year for sign-ups of Vauxhall, Chevrolet and Saab retailers to its services.
Certainly, GMAC is a unique company a captive finance provider only 17% owned by the manufacturer whose car sale sales it exists to support. Yet is the current strategy permanent?
Ally has confirmed it and GMAC "will continue to operate under a contract with GM for the next several years for certain exclusivity or access to sub-vented retail financing programmes".
In the US, GM bought a new finance company for itself after losing its hold on GMAC, targeted at expansion in the subprime market. With Allys focus on financing new cars, the two companies manage to work well without treading on each others toes.
Does Ally think there is any possibility of this move being expanded to the UK, where the subprime market is in desperate need of a fresh source of funding?
Gehrling says: "We cant speak for GM."
See also: GMAC Timeline
