DETROIT -

General Motors increased its lease penetration by more than 5 percentage points in the third quarter, becoming slightly closer to its industry peers than it was a year ago.

In a chart set providing details on the automaker’s Q3 performance, GM said its lease penetration in the U.S. was at 21.3 percent in the third quarter, up from 16.2 percent in the same period a year ago.

The automaker indicated that the overall industry numbers, excluding GM, were at 24.1 percent, up from 21.1 percent in Q3 2012.

The automaker noted that the GM sales penetration figures are based on J.D. Power/PIN data.

According to figures on the overall industry provided recently to Auto Remarketing by J.D. Power, there were 758, 962 leases written in the in U.S. from July through September.  Lease penetration figures for the industry during three months were at 22, percent (July) 23 percent (August), and 22 percent (September).

Growth similar to what was reported at GM was reflected in the North American financial results of General Motors Financial.

GM Financial indicated operating lease originations of GM vehicles totaled $727 million during the third quarter. That amount is down slightly sequentially as GM Financial originated $834 million worth of parent automaker models. But comparing year-over-year, that level is much higher as GM Financial reported $299 million in leasing originations for Q3 of 2012.

Through nine months, GM Financial originated $2.2 billion in operating lease originations, double the amount at this juncture a year ago when the company posted $1.1 billion.
 

Editor's Note: Staff Writer Nick Zulovich contributed to this report. Joe Overby can be reached at joverby@autoremarketing.com. Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.