"I wouldn't call it an overwhelming change, but it's a definite move in the market," Boutelle said.

More credit union focus on auto lending is one reason for the trend along with an increase in auto lease financing from captive auto lenders, he added.

Captive auto lenders are finance companies that are subsidiaries of the auto manufacturers and exist only to finance that automaker's new car sales.

Members of the $322 million Telcoe Federal Credit Union in Little Rock, Ark., have kept up their preferences for new and used cars with a 50% split between the two, Sarah Mosley, president/CEO of the cooperative, said. As a result, Telcoe has kept the focus on generating car loans.

According to data from the NCUA, Telcoe closed 2014 with 2,615 auto loans worth roughly $35.9 million. Of those, 1,025 financed new cars to just more than $17 million, and 1,590 loans financed used cars for $18.8 million.

Since the credit union does have an indirect lending program, Mosley said she noticed it was getting cut out of the loan opportunity loop.

"We have been struggling a little bit because, of course, the dealers get paid when they route a loan to Chase or Citi or one of the [auto-lending] CUSOs," Mosley said. "We don't pay the lender anything because we prefer to use our resources to get our members the very best rate."

She attributed some of Telcoe's higher than average new car numbers to the practice of pre-approving members for car loans and then giving them auto-checks to take to the dealerships. That strategy has not only helped members feel empowered when buying cars but some are open to the possibility of purchasing new cars down the road.

"We have been doing that for years and our members really like it," Mosley said.

The $20 million 1st Choice Credit Union in Atlanta is still not seeing much of an uptake in new car loans, according to Calreatha Hardnett, a loan supervisor. Higher prices for cars were keeping members away, she noted.

"I know they've been offering incentives for the new cars but the prices still seem so high [that] it seems like they might be tacking the incentives onto the costs of the new cars," Hardnett said. "I don't know if the dealers are doing that or not, but it's keeping new cars out the reach of many of our members."

According to data from the NCUA, 1st Choice closed 2014 with 519 auto loans worth roughly $6.2 million. Of those, 17% financed new cars for $1.46 million and 83% financed used cars for $4.79 million.

Another trend emerging within the car lending space is a slight uptick in leases. Kelly Blue Book, a leading vehicle valuation and information company, said auto leases are expected to rise from 3.36 million in 2014 to 3.51 million in 2015. Despite the projected growth, the numbers of leased cars set to return this year could make auto manufacturers back off leases a bit.

Many clients of Cornerstone Advisors are not asking about strategies to pull in more new car loans, according to Daryl Jones, a senior consultant at the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based management consulting firm. Instead, the inquiries involve the best ways to manage risk while making loans to members with lower credit scores.

"They have been interested in how they might make loans further down the credit stream without taking too much risk," Jones said.

Credit unions are also interested in filling in the gap in finance revenue left by the dramatic drop in the mortgage market last year, he added.