Recent data collected by CU Direct signaled that the sales and financing of new vehicles, which has been steadily growing, might soon plateau.

According to the Ontario, Calif.-based indirect lending CUSO's estimates, new vehicle sales will hit a record 17.4 million in 2015 but will only reach 17.6 million in 2016. The CUSO revealed the estimate as part of an Oct. 8, 2015 webinar.

However, the CUSO also stated the growth would not be uniform across all types of vehicles.  So far this year, SUVs and light truck sales growth has been very strong, but car sales – particularly large cars – have seen negative growth so far this year, CU Direct said.

Overall car sales shrank by 2.1% this year with every type of car losing steam: Small car sales are down by 1.1%, midsize and luxury car sales are down by 2.8% each and large car sales are down by a whopping 55.3%.

In comparison, CU Direct reported that overall SUV and light truck sales have grown by 16.4% so far in 2015, with only minivan and large SUV sales seeing negative growth. Sales growth for minivans stood at negative 12.2%, and for large SUVs, negative 5.3%.

The CUSO also reported its credit unions have continued to grab more market share. Credit unions that use its platform for indirect lending comprised, collectively, the third largest auto lender in the country with more than 707,000 loans. Only Ally Bank, with almost 800,000 loans, and Wells Fargo, with nearly 762,000 loans, beat them.

This news also means credit unions captured 25% of the overall market for auto loan originations in Q2 2015, up from the 23% reported for Q2 2014.

When it comes to the borrowers' credit profiles, CU Direct reported banks made just under 30% of their auto loans to consumers with near prime or subprime credit scores in Q2 2015, while credit unions made just under 34% to consumers with those scores. Captive auto lenders and finance companies made 37% and 59% of their loans to near prime and subprime borrowers in Q2 2015, CU Direct said.

The CUSO defined near prime borrowers as those with Experian credit scores between 601 and 660, and subprime borrowers as those with Experian credit scores between 300 and 600.