LOS ANGELES — Westlake Financial Services is calling 2008 a year of growth. Accordingly, the company announced it is expanding its reach into two more states.

With the addition of Wyoming and Tennessee, the company is now offering services in 31 states.

"One of our stated goals for 2008 is to increase our national footprint," said Ian Anderson, senior vice president of production and business analytics. "To that end, we see Westlake's expansion into these states as another step toward that goal."

Brian Heath, vice president of marketing, indicated that entering Wyoming was a good decision, "a logical, easy step to take. We already have a strong operation and presence in neighboring Colorado, so Wyoming made sense as one of our next states."

Anderson went on to say, "We also analyzed the demographic and economic conditions in both states and found them both to have the right mix of what we are looking for — an increasing population, a strong economy and increasing car sales.

"Tennessee, in particular, has strong credit quality, and we feel our full spectrum of financing products will work well there as well as in Wyoming," he continued.

Meanwhile, Heath added, "Each state has a unique set of challenges. But we feel prepared to hit the ground running. For example, Wyoming is geographically challenging to service because it is so spread out.

"But by using a combination of local representatives, along with our internal marketing team based here in Los Angeles, we feel we can give Wyoming dealerships the same level of personalized service that people have come to expect from us," he said.

According to the company, Wyoming will be part of Westlake's Central Region, while Tennessee becomes a part of the Mid-Atlantic Region.

"We look forward to meeting new dealerships across both states and being able to offer them the products and services they want and deserve from their auto financing company," Anderson highlighted.

Going forward, the company said its future plans include expanding into New Jersey and West Virginia.

For more information on Westlake, visit www.westlakefinancial.com.