NEW YORK — Along with an upbeat forecast for this year, the latest report by Fitch Ratings showed U.S. auto loan/lease credit performance continued positive momentum during the fourth quarter.

Analysts determined that strong used-vehicle prices and positive U.S. economic trends offset typical second-half seasonal trends.

The report released late last week also indicated Fitch's outlook for the auto finance industry is stable for 2012, supported by the firm's expectations for a rise in industry sales volume, solid performance of recent vintage loans and continued recovery for the U.S. economy.

"Most auto lenders ended 2011 by reporting their lowest delinquency and charge-offs in a decade," analysts surmised.

"Fitch expects delinquency and charge-off metrics to normalize with portfolio growth as lenders loosen underwriting to increase application volume," they added.

Fitch also projected credit performance to outperform historical levels this year.

Analysts pointed out auto loan/lease origination volumes increased across most lender issuers, led by the recovery in U.S. auto sales.

They also tabulated that auto sales rose for the second consecutive year to 12.7 million units in 2011, up 9.5 percent from 11.6 million in 2010.

Fitch noted Sales are forecasted to hit 13.5 to 14 million this year.

The report went on to mention access to debt markets, particularly the asset-backed securities (ABS) market, remained robust through the second-half of last year despite volatility in the U.S. credit markets from European debt concerns.

"Fitch notes that 2012 is activity is strong with auto ABS volumes reaching levels not seen since before the crisis," analysts stated.

The full report titled, "U.S. Auto Asset Quality Review 4Q11" is available to Fitch subscribers at www.fitchratings.com.