BANDON, Ore. -
Several automakers pulled out of leasing during the widespread auto and economic crises in the last two years, but it appears leasing has made a healthy comeback in 2010.

Shedding some light on the current strength of leasing, CNW Research offered some insight into the lease market in its latest Retail Automotive Summary, in addition to providing Auto Remarketing with additional data.

Overall, there were 261,651 vehicles leased in the U.S. during October, according to data from CNW. This compares with 258,096 units leased in September and 196,503 leases in October of 2009. The industry’s lease penetration was 27.55 percent in October, versus 26.9 percent in September.
Through the first 10 months of the year, there have been about 2.41 million leases, which represent 25.18 percent of all auto sales, CNW shared.
This exceeds the number of leases for the entirety of 2009, when 2.33 million vehicles were leased and lease penetration was at 22.16 percent.
Looking at October, in particular, about a sixth of new-vehicle shoppers said a lease deal was the reason they began shopping, said CNW president Art Spinella.
“As a means of enticing consumers to a dealership, leasing continues to add some muscle,” he shared. “Those who say they entered the new-car market because of a lease deal climbed to 16 percent in October clearly indicating a pivotal role this form of financing has had on sales increases.”
Spinella also suggested that another reason for the upswing in leasing is the fact that the contract length of a lease (averaging 41 months) is shorter than the average finance deal (close to 64 months) and payments are quite similar.
“The average lease term is now 41 months and dropping while payments are virtually the same as longer-term finance contracts,” he said.
CNW further delved into more statistics from October, providing a chart breaking the down leasing figures by brand.
Here is a look at some of the major OEMs:
Beginning with domestics, Ford brands moved 42,062 leases in October, compared with 42,781 leases in September and 29,798 leases in the year-ago period. The automaker’s lease penetration for the most recent month was 26.68 percent
Through the first 10 months of the year, Ford’s lease penetration is 25.21 percent and its leases have totaled 402,000.
Over at General Motors, its nameplates had 44,189 leases in October, up from 40,394 in September and 32,201 in October 2009. Lease penetration in October 2010 was 24.08 percent. Year-to-date, leases reached 394,268 units for a 21.68 percent share.
Moving on to Chrysler, its brands combined to lease 16,912 vehicles during the month, compared with 18,084 units in September and 5,974 units in the year-ago period. Leases composed 18.76 percent of Chrysler’s October sales.
Through the first 10 months of the year, the automaker has leased 135,856 vehicles for a 14.92-percent share.
Toyota, Lexus and Scion leased 46,598 vehicles last month, up from 45,350 units in September and down from 46,874 a year ago. Their lease penetration for October 2010 was 32.03 percent.
Year-to-date leases stood at 427,086 units, representing 29.32 percent of Toyota sales.
Moving over to Honda and Acura, they leased 29,358 units in October, compared with 28,803 vehicles in September and 22,194 units in October 2009. Leasing penetration for the month was 29.71 percent.
Year-to-date, the automaker has leased 286,950 units at 28.38 percent penetration.
At Nissan and Infiniti, their October leases finished at 15,533 units, down from 16,089 in September, but up from 9,856 in the year-ago period. October’s leasing penetration was 22.26 percent.
So far this year, the automaker has leased 146,053 vehicles for a 19.64-percent share.
Regarding some of the major players on the luxury side and their respective lease sales and penetration levels, Mercedes-Benz leased 11,278 vehicles (up from 9,728 in October 2009, but down from 12,035 units in September) and was at 59.1 percent lease penetration. Meanwhile, BMW was at 57.96 percent as it leased 11,171 models (up 9,028 leases a year ago and 10,479 units in September).