Credit union vehicle loans outstanding have dropped 2.2% so far in 2012 but lending activity is still higher than it was a year ago.

That's according to Brian Turner, director and chief strategist at Catalyst Strategic Solutions, a subsidiary of Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit 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% decline in new vehicle loans has been offset by a 5.8% increase in used vehicle loans, according to Turner.

In April, new vehicle sales increased 2% reaching an annualized 14.4 million unit pace that matched March's figures, Catalyst data showed. The increase also outpaced April 2011's yearly level of 13.1 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 in April 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 in April from March's level of 5.4 million. Meanwhile, truck sales increased to 6.12 million units from last month's 5.6 million. Turner said this would make April car sales the slowest since December 2011.

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