Big U.S. automakers are beginning to pay a lot

more attention to the used-car business. They have no other choice, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Thanks to the boom in leasing during the past several years, General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's U.S. brands are looking at a tidal wave of two- and three-year-old cars, sport utility vehicles and trucks that

will be turned in by their lease customers over the next year or two.

Ray Fisher, Chrysler's vice president of fleet and remarketing, calls it "the moment of truth." It could also be a costly moment. Without remedial action, the glut could severely depress the prices of new and used vehicles, particularly SUVs. That could result in losses estimated as high as $18 billion over the next two years for carmakers and other

financing companies.

So after years of criticism from dealers that their used-car efforts were failures, Ford and GM thsi year overhauled their "certified used car" programs.

At Chrysler, Fisher says the company has been planning how to deal with the oversupply problem for some time. With the help of Mercedes, Chrysler officials are putting together a certified program and exploring other ways to spur demand for the leased vehicles that come back onto the company's books, according to the Journal.