SANTA MONICA, Calif. -

Not only is lease penetration riding a record wave, leasing volume may experience a never-before-seen trend in 2016, as well.

That’s according to Edmunds.com, which shared commentary from executive director of industry analysis Jessica Caldwell ahead of automakers reporting car sales on Thursday.

“Leasing accounts for a larger share of new-car transactions than ever before, and nowhere is this more true than in the luxury market,” Caldwell said in the commentary. “In fact, luxury automakers are on track this year to lease more cars than they sell for the first time ever.”

An Edmunds data chart shows that year-to-date overall lease penetration through October is at 30.7 percent. For luxury leasing, it’s at 51.2 percent.  

To put it in a different perspective, overall lease penetration is now higher than luxury lease penetration was just 11 years ago (29.9 percent).

It’s also nearly double the rate from 2009, when leasing dried up and tumbled to 16.6 percent of new-car sales, according to the Edmunds data.

As far as the overall new-car market, it is in good shape for another record year. Still, don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

“November sales have the industry well-positioned to set a new annual sales record this year, but a new record is far from guaranteed,” Caldwell said.

“Expect to see a flood of ads for holiday season sales events in the coming days and weeks, especially for luxury brands, trucks and SUVs,” she said. “If we see any year-over-year lifts in these segments in December, then it's a good bet that the industry will top last year's record-high sales."