During the pandemic, automotive production was thrown completely off track for a variety of reasons stemming from plant shutdowns to supply chain and labor shortages. This led to a major shift in consumer habits, with many opting to finance rather than lease, and many lessees also opting to keep their vehicles once their term was up. With the market stabilizing and returning somewhat to normal, more and more consumers are opting to lease, but that wasn’t the case with Ford shoppers in Q1 2024, at least.
According to Experian’s just-released Q1 2024 State of the Automotive Finance Market report, 82.59 percent of Ford customers over the first quarter of the year opted to finance their vehicle purchase, compared to 17.41 percent that chose to lease instead. This was one of the highest finance rates of any automotive brand, behind only Dodge, in fact.
This isn’t a new trend for The Blue Oval, however, as it previously had a finance rate of 81.37 percent in Q3 2023, followed by 80.23 percent in Q4 of last year, which were also among the highest of any automotive brand during those timeframes. If nothing else, it’s an interesting data point, given the fact that some automakers have customers who lean heavily toward leasing rather than financing – most of which are luxury brands, whose vehicles tend to depreciate at a more rapid rate.
In spite of this, Ford still finished Q1 2024 as the sixth most leased brand over that time span by accounting for 5.39 percent of the total market, tying The Blue Oval with BMW in that regard. That did mark a bit of a decline for Ford versus Q4 2023, however, when it ranked fourth among all makes by accounting for 6.18 percent of the total market, prior to which it ranked sixth in Q1 and Q2 2023 before moving up to fifth place in Q3.
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