Crunch watch Dec 08: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard and Simon Stiel Motor Industry 31 December 2008 14:05 Wednesday 31 December 2008• GMAC, GM's finance arm, said it would immediately revise its criteria for providing loans, after the US government bail-out of the General's credit arm. It will now supply credit for anyone with a score of 621 or more on the Fico scale, the scale used to assess Amercian customers' creditworthiness (Financial Times)• The news means that 80% of US consumers would now qualify for a loan from GMAC – which should improve sales in the depressed US market (Detroit News)• Chrysler is being lambasted for taking out full-page adverts in the American national press thanking the nation for supporting its auto industry. But critics point out this is a fresh waste of bail-out resources, as pages in the Wall Street Journal – one of the titles in which the ad ran – reportedly cost up to $264,000.

Design Development: Yanfeng Visteon Glide

Those who attended our Designers' Night in Beijing earlier in the year will have seen the Yanfeng Visteon Glide concept car, a car many thought one of the best displayed throughout the whole motor show period. However many asked why a Tier 1 supplier Yanfeng Visteon has gone to the effort and expense of creating a full concept car, especially one as exotic as the Glide, especially when the company's core business is designing and supplying interior components. We caught up with Shizuki Kajiyama, Yanfeng Visteon's Design Studio Manager to find out more about the project.

Safety tech boost for new Honda CR-V

By Phil McNamara Motor Industry 29 August 2006 07:56 Honda has given a sneak preview of the technology bound for its all-new CRV soft-roader. The funky new look remains under wraps for now, but we know the chassis has been equipped with adaptive cruise control (ACC) and a collision mitigation brake system (CMS). The CR-V is equipped with a radar which tracks the distance to the car in front, with two benefits.