DALLAS -

It’s almost been three years since Santander Consumer USA began originating leases through Chrysler Capital in order for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to have a captive to move new metal.

And with those vehicles about to come back to FCA dealerships, SCUSA chief executive officer Jason Kulas likes where the automaker and finance company currently stand.

“The lease business, we’ve had a really positive experience with that so far,” Kulas said when the finance company released its fourth-quarter and full-year performance.

“The leased residuals value component of that has performed in line with our expectations to slightly better. I think that’s attributable to the quality of the vehicles that are the underlying assets,” he continued.

“We think FCA has done a great job of putting great product out there, and so I think we’ve really benefited from that,” Kulas went on to say.

The lease portion of SCUSA’s overall portfolio is steadily growing. The company finished the year with leases constituting 16 percent of SCUSA’s 2015 originations.

For Chrysler Capital, the company generated $5.2 billion in leases for the year, representing a 14-percent gain.

“We like the arrangement we have on lease, because we think it aligns interests in a way that is not unprecedented, but fairly unique, because we share loss performance relative to expectations on lease,” Kulas said. “What that means is sort of we all come to the table, manufacturer and finance company, to make sure we put strong structures in place that make sense.

“So from that perspective, we feel like we’ve been properly compensated for the lease exposure we’ve taken, and the residual experience so far has been good,” he continued. “We can say with some meaning behind it because as you know we’re approaching our three-year anniversary of the launch of Chrysler Capital.

“We’re starting to see a lot of leases come to end of term and roll off, and we’re seeing what the actual residual experience is, and so far it’s been really good,” Kulas concluded.