CHARLOTTE, N.C. -

Ally Financial chief executive officer Jeffrey Brown pledged that the company would maintain positive performances despite a huge volume of originations no longer coming its way from General Motors and Chrysler. Now, Brown contends he has Ally’s first-quarter results to back up his assertions.

The company’s auto financing originations for the first quarter remained strong and grew to $9.8 billion, increasing 9 percent from the previous quarter and 7 percent year-over-year. Excluding GM lease originations, Ally reported its consumer auto originations increased 27 percent year-over-year.

Moreover, new- and used-vehicle originations from dealers who recently joined Ally’s platform grew 54 percent compared to the prior-year period.

As a result, Ally’s Dealer Financial Services franchise generated pre-tax income totaling $409 million for the quarter.

“I recognized there have been a lot of questions about our reliance on key manufacture relationships and whether auto would be a growth business or not. Today’s results show we are growing and diversifying within our auto finance franchise and I have full expectations this will continue,” Brown said when Ally hosted a conference call with investment analysts on Tuesday.

“This is a business I have run for the company and I know we have the best people and platform in the industry. The business is succeeding by growing dealer relationships, penetrating deeper with our existing dealer base and originating a more diversified loan mix even as our lease portfolio declines,” he continued.

“Success we delivered in the first quarter was not by accident,” Brown went on to say. “Our auto team worked with a heightened sense of urgency and quite frankly, did a phenomenal job responding to changes in the business environment in the effect of loss of leasing in GM channel. If anything I think the GM dealers found more satisfaction by our expanded approach to help them capture volumes outside of lease.”

Coming on the heels of Ally forging an agreement with Mitsubishi, Brown reiterated his stance that Ally is geared to provide financing from all automakers.

“We also took steps with the manufacturers to ensure they know we want to help them sell more cars too. My hope is we don’t constantly fight the headline noise any longer. I'm very supportive of GM at both the dealer and manufacturer level, and I am supportive of a lot more nameplates too. The primary goal is to simply be a great finance and service provider,” Brown said.

Ally reported that its earning assets for auto finance, which are comprised of consumer and commercial receivables and leases, continued solid growth with end-of-period earning assets totaling $111 billion. Consumer earning assets totaled $78 billion, up 4 percent year-over-year, due to continued strong origination volume. The company’s end-of-period commercial earning assets were relatively flat at $33 billion for the quarter.

Furthermore Ally Insurance, which focuses on dealer-centric products such as extended vehicle service contracts (VSCs) and dealer inventory insurance, reported pre-tax income from continuing operations of $78 million in the first quarter, compared to pre-tax income of $74 million in the prior-year period. The company indicated this movement was driven by improved underwriting income resulting from lower vehicle service contract claims.

Officials added written premiums declined slightly, primarily driven by lower floorplan balances. Total investment income remained strong at $43 million in the first quarter, flat compared to the prior-year period.

The initial launch of its new, flagship vehicle service contract, Ally Premier Protection, began in March. Ally Premier Protection is slated to start its nationwide roll-out this summer and continuing through 2016, and will cover new and used vehicles of virtually all makes and models.

“Looking ahead, we are intensely focused on thoughtfully expanding our portfolio of products and services to drive revenue and returns,” Brown said. “The auto finance business remains at the heart of what we do, and we will continue to grow that business.”