NEW YORK — In the second quarter, Ally Financial Inc.’s auto franchise posted its second highest level of consumer auto originations in its history. The feat was driven by record decision applications and used-vehicle originations.
Consumer financing originations totaled $10.9 billion for the quarter, up 11% year over year. The originations were comprised of $4.7 billion in new retail, a record $3.1 billion in used retail and $3.2 billion in leases. Officials added that volume from non-GM and non-Chrysler dealers grew 48% on a year-over-year basis and now accounts for 20% of the firm’s total consumer originations.
“The second quarter, I think, clearly demonstrated the strength of our core auto franchise,” said Ally CEO Michael Carpenter during the company’s July 29 investor call. “Auto originations in the quarter are evidence that Ally’s dealer-focused, go-to-market strategy is winning despite the intensity of competition in the market place.”
Ally’s auto franchise posted a pre-tax income of $461 million for the second quarter, up from $382 million in the year-ago quarter. The increase was driven by a 14% increase in net financing revenue from a year ago.
Retail auto net charge-offs accounted for 0.58% of all open auto loans, down from 0.85% in the year-ago quarter. Ally’s delinquency rate, however, increased, rising from 1.59% in the year-ago quarter to 2.02%. “This was up quarter over quarter given normal seasonal performance trends, where delinquencies are lowest at the end of the first quarter,” CFO Chris Halmy said. “Year-over-year delinquencies were up 24 basis points, which are consistent with our expectations and the more balanced origination mix that we’ve had since 2012.
“Overall, the takeaway here is that auto asset quality results were well in line with our expectations as we continue to anticipate seasonality quarter over quarter and a gradual increase in charge-offs year over year due to normalization of our portfolio.”
Consolidating all of its business units, Ally posted net income of $323 million in the second quarter vs. a net loss of $927 million in the year-ago quarter. That loss was related to the $1.6 billion settlement agreement in the ResCap Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.
Officials also reported continued progress in expanding its diversified dealer relationships. In the second quarter, the company grew its dealer count by more than 900 dealers from a year ago. Including auto and RV dealers, Ally’s dealer count totaled approximately 16,400 dealers at the end of the second quarter.
“So we continue to make good progress expanding and, obviously, that’s showing up or manifesting itself in some of the diversification numbers that you see in origination as well,” Halmy told investors. “So about 20% of the originations we are doing [with] non-GM, non-Chrysler [dealers].
“I think when we think about relationships, we try to conquest. They are more of the franchised dealers and I think that’s somewhere in the neighborhood of more like 18,000 dealers,” he added. “So, obviously, at 16,400 dealers, we are doing the lion’s share of them today.”
