Though automotive leases have taken a hit over the past few years thanks to skyrocketing prices, record-low inventory levels, and changing consumer preference, it stands to reason that new vehicle shoppers may wind up gravitating back to that form of ownership now that the market is slowly correcting itself. In that regard, Ford has long performed quite well, however, ranking among the top leased brands in Q1, Q2, and Q3 of 2023, in fact. Now that new data from Experian has been released, it reveals that this trend continued in the final quarter of last year, too.
According to Experian’s Q4 2023 State of the Automotive Finance Market report, Ford ranked fourth among all automotive brands in terms of the top 20 most leased makes last quarter as it accounted for 6.18 percent of the total market in that regard. This also represents an upward trend for The Blue Oval, as it ranked sixth in Q1 and Q2 before moving up to fifth place in Q3, too.
Now, the only makes that rank above Ford in terms of lease percentage are Honda (11.05 percent), Toyota (8.07 percent), and Chevrolet (7.87 percent). Rounding out the rest of this list in the last quarter were Nissan, Jeep, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Subaru, Volkswagen, Audi, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Tesla, Volvo, Acura, GMC, and Buick, respectively.
More promising is the fact that while automotive leases took a dive between 2020 and 2022, that form of vehicle ownership has rebounded in a big way through the course of 2023, according to Experian. Interestingly, it’s the customers that have higher credit scores that are opting to lease versus finance as well – in fact, 56 percent of lessees in Q4 2023 had credit scores higher than 741 after making up 34.88 percent of the overall market last year as a whole.
We’ll have more lease data to share soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for comprehensive Ford news coverage.
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