American car buyers’ stampede from gas-guzzling SUVs has taken a heavy toll on GMAC, the financial services group owned by Cerberus Capital Management and General Motors.

A $716m vehicle lease writedown helped drive GMAC to a net second-quarter loss of $2.5bn, a sharp reversal from earnings of $293m a year earlier. Losses at ResCap, GMAC’s troubled mortgage-lending arm, climbed to $1.9bn from $254m a year earlier.