Ford Joins Invest In America Program, Chrysler & GM Expand Agreements

LANSING, Mich. – Invest in America will soon provide credit union car-buying support to Ford, and is expanding its agreements with General Motors and Chrysler.Kim Irwin, VP of Invest in America, told Credit Union Journal that Ford has agreed to conduct a pilot with the credit union-led auto buying and financing program later this year. General Motors has extended its participation though Dec. 31, 2009, and Chrysler may be close to extending its agreement with Invest in America for an additional six months.Irwin declined to provide details on the Ford agreement, but said that Invest in America’s results continue to catch the attention of the carmakers.“GM’s No. 1 metric is new customers that have not bought GM vehicles in the past,” Irwin said. “And over 60% of the customers that have bought through Invest in America are new to GM. That has well exceeded their expectations.”That has prompted GM to not only extend beyond its original June 30 cutoff, but to also discuss expanding the Invest in America partnership into used cars, leasing, and other offers, Irwin shared. Chrysler’s participation is set to end June 30, 2009, but “they are fully anticipating an extension through the end of the year,” Irwin said.One of the reasons is impressive Invest in America sales numbers, with the program, posting more than 73,000 car sales through March. Irwin explained that figure includes both GM and Chrysler sales through February, but only GM’s March totals. Chrysler’s March figures have not been added. “Both GM and Chrysler did not anticipate how much loyalty credit union members have when their CUs market an offer,” Irwin noted.