NEW YORK — General Motors Corp. has told dealers it will continue to offer leasing incentives in August, while it and other automakers scrutinize their leasing practices in light of steep drops in used- car values.
Mark LaNeve, GM’s vice president of North American sales, said in a memo to U.S. dealers late Tuesday that the Detroit-based automaker will continue to offer leasing deals.
“Obviously, current financial pressures will continue to affect our perspective on leasing,” LaNeve said in the memo obtained by The Associated Press.
“That said, while we obviously can’t make guarantees, we are in the market today with competitive programs to make GMAC leasing more affordable and plan on continuing to offer this financing alternative as part of our August incentive play on ’08 and ’09 models (with some adjustments and exceptions),” the memo said.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s auto-finance arm said Tuesday it would stop financing leases for Chrysler vehicles after the close of business today, joining Wells Fargo & Co., which stopped accepting lease applications from all automakers July 15.
Ford Motor Credit Co. said it would raise leasing prices on some models. Chrysler LLC said last week that its finance arm would get out of the leasing business by the end of July.
