Credit union vehicle loans outstanding have dropped 2.2% so farin 2012 but lending activity is still higher than it was a yearago.

That's according to Brian Turner, director and chief strategist at CatalystStrategic Solutions, a subsidiary of Catalyst Corporate FederalCredit Union in Plano, Texas. New vehicle loans experienced a 8.2%decline, which was offset by a 1% increase in used vehicle loans.

Still, compared to last year, vehicle loans are up 1.1% from one year ago as a 6.6% declinein new vehicle loans has been offset by a 5.8% increase in usedvehicle loans, according to Turner.

In April, new vehicle sales increased 2% reaching an annualized14.4 million unit pace that matched March's figures, Catalyst datashowed. The increase also outpaced April 2011's yearly level of13.1 million units.

Ford and General Motors experienced a sales drop in April of 5%and 8.2%, respectively, Turner said. Chrysler was the big mover inApril with sales increasing 20.4%, he added.

Overall sales were primarily boosted by light truck purchases,according to Turner. Car sales declined to 4.7 million units inApril from March's level of 5.4 million. Meanwhile, truck salesincreased to 6.12 million units from last month's 5.6 million.Turner said this would make April car sales the slowest sinceDecember 2011.

The discrepancy between auto sales and credit union loan growthreconciles with the latest reports from the Federal Reserve whichshows that credit union market share for non-revolving credit hasdeclined from 11.8% this time last year to 10.9% in February,Turner said.