General Motors kicked off with the expansion of the Invest in America program ...

General Motors kicked off with the expansion of the Invest in America program where 90 million credit union members can take advantage of the Credit Union Member Discount Program through participating dealers.

The scheme also allows union members to access loans for purchasing new vehicles. GM will be able to reach out to members of around 8000 credit unions across all states and gives them discount for new car purchases. They may also tap into the available $80 billion easy to the pocket credit union auto loans.

The move of the GM follows their trial expansion in four Midwest states early December of 2008.

Chrysler LLC also widens its coverage of credit union programs as it is now available nationwide growing from 12 states.

The response of the dealers with the pilot run is very positive according to GM executives. The national dry run is set to last until the end of March this year where credit union members can enjoy supplier discounts for new cars under the brands of Pontiac, Saturn, Chevrolet, Saab, Hummer, Cadillac, and Buick.

Interested members can avail of most 2008 and 2009 models except the medium duty trucks and the Corvette.

Credit union rates are comparatively lower at 5.4% than most banks’ 6.9%. The website of the union was barged with 1.3 million hits.

According to the statistics of the program proponents, around 30% of the members who inquired for the discount code ended up buying a new vehicle. That is a significant conversion rate that makes GM officials smile.

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There will still be debuts in 2009.

General Motors are delaying the production of the Chevrolet Cruze and other vehicles as company executives are making decisions on a day to day basis. The cut in product development finances will save GM a hefty $1.5 billion.

In the recent weeks, the company has announced to the public that it will be cutting its budget for product line expansion for as much as two years with a greater percentage of belt-tightening happening in 2009.

Experts see the move as an anxious step to stay afloat amid the credit crunch. This means that dealerships will not get the cars that they are supposed to sell on time, cars which will help GM recover.

Officials of GM reveal that capital expenditure portions for engineering, design, and other things will mean money going out from the GM books and needs to be cut. They have disclosed that the current global financial disaster is one of the toughest challenges faced by the company.

Cars like Camaro and Chevrolet Volt will not be delayed but most of the range of cars will. Auto industry experts say that holding production is a threading on dangerous waters since this may mean falling short of sales goals in the future.

Some are speculating that GM has reached a critical level of cash flow. Sources say that with full blast production the company uses up around $1 billion per month. The company has only $17 billion left of its funds thus the development delays might be signs of desperation.

GM needs around $14 billion to maintain full operations and financial experts are seeing a very difficult winter ahead for the car manufacturer.

There will still be debuts in 2009. These will be the GM vehicles that have been developed like the Buick La Crosse and the Camaro from Chevrolet. The Chevy Volt is also expected to hit the market by next year. Some industry experts are wondering why the Cruze, expected to bring in the volume of sales, will be delayed.