NEW YORK -- AmeriCredit Corp., which makes auto loans to consumers with risky or limited credit histories, plans to make more loans through additional car dealers, to a wider variety of consumers, according to the Associated Press.

The lender plans to grow its $10.38 billion auto loan portfolio 10 to 15 percent annually by moving into new geographic regions, making new kinds of loans and approving loans to consumers with credit the company had previously considered too pristine. The idea is to become a “full-spectrum, one-stop shop” for auto dealers, says COO Preston Miller.

Already the biggest subprime lender with a 13 percent market share, the $3.7 billion company sees room for growth in the fractured subprime and near-prime auto lending markets, with the primary goal of increasing the number of dealers it does business with.

AmeriCredit buys loans from about 13,000 of the nation's 22,000 franchised dealers. The company says it still has plenty of room to add franchised dealers to its loan portfolio, but also sees a big opportunity to add loans with the nation’s 19,000 independent dealers.