SAN FRANCISCO — After launching a successful prime leasing pilot in Ohio, GM Financial is looking to roll this offering out to the rest of the nation. Additionally, the company is eyeing a re-entry into the Canadian marketplace as well.

Kyle Birch, executive vice president of dealer services for AmeriCredit/GM Financial, explained that while the company is continuing to focus its attention on maintaining its relationships with independent dealer clients, it has also been ramping up its offerings under the GM Financial brand.

Birch revealed that the company successfully completed a pilot prime lease program in Ohio and as of early January, has rolled this offering out to seven additional states, including Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts , Pennsylvania and Vermont. The prime leasing product is closely tied to the company's relationship with General Motors.

"We've worked very closely with GM in its sales regions and are opening a new credit center. We have three to four credit offices per GM sales region. Our goal is to fill market holes with subprime financing and then our prime leasing product. We're looking to get all the GM dealers signed up and explain our offerings," said Birch during the National Automobile Dealers Association's annual convention & expo in San Francisco this past weekend.

And by the summer, GM Financial is looking to take its leasing product nationwide. The company has tapped Fiserv to help with the program from underwriting to collections.

Initially, this leasing program is designed as prime; however, the company is exploring a possible expansion in the spectrum to perhaps adding near-prime and subprime leases at some point. But that would be further down the road, Birch indicated.

As for GM Financial's relationship with GM, Birch said this has been going very well.

"We can bring unique approvals and help get consumers get in a lot of cars at subvented rates," he pointed out.

Currently, GM Financial's dealer base stands at about 38 percent GM dealers, with the rest being non-GM.

"We will not lose sight of our independent dealers," Birch said, stressing that these relationships remain important to the company.

Given the GM relationship, GM Financial is primarily looking to get consumers financed and into new vehicles to help ramp up sales; however, Birch did say that if it didn't look like the terms would work out for a new vehicle, the company is also willing to put the customer into a used vehicle.

"We're looking to support GM new-car sales, but we are also looking to get the deal done," Birch noted. And if this means a used vehicle, then that is what the company will fund, he added.

As for the Canadian development, the company pulled out of this country a few years ago when the capital markets crashed. Thanks to the new relationship with GM, GM Financial will be returning and has rehired its former Canadian market leader to help the company introduce the prime leasing product to GM dealers in that country. While the company is looking to re-enter Canada perhaps by mid-year or sooner, it will be with GM dealer relationships only.

However, despite the somewhat recent focus on franchised dealers thanks to the recent deal with GM, Birch concluded by saying, "Our non-GM dealers remain a large part of our competitive stance."

He encouraged dealers to stay tuned to the AmeriCredit.com site for the latest updates.