General Motors Co.'s proposed acquisition Thursday of AmeriCredit Corp., an auto-finance company, is one more strand in the unraveling of the automaker's formerly exclusive relationship with Ally Financial Inc.

GM's purchase is aimed at increasing the availability of vehicle loans and leases, giving it an in-house auto lender for the first time since it sold control in 2006 of its finance arm, GMAC, now known as Ally.
While the purpose of the acquisition, in the near term at least, is to plug holes in GM's ability to provide financing to less-creditworthy borrowers, and to provide leases, the deal may erode at least some of Ally's market share of GM's retail customers.
The AmeriCredit acquisition is “more of a positive for GM than Ally,” says Kathleen Shanley, an analyst at GimmeCredit, an independent credit research firm. “This is going to be a challenge for Ally, in terms of getting growth and restoring its own solid footing.”
Ally, now majority-owned by the U.S. government, provides financing for GM and Chrysler Group LLC dealerships as well as their customers.
(Source: The WSJ)