BANDON, Ore. -

While each market performs somewhat differently, some certified pre-owned vehicle categories tend to be hot sellers, whereas others are perhaps not so popular. 

So what has Art Spinella, of CNW Research, discovered? He found that near-luxury, luxury and hybrid CPO models have been healthy as of late, while smaller, budget cars have been the slowest to move.

That said, CPO trends do vary on a regional basis, he pointed out.

"All of this, however, is based on the national data. Regionally, some markets such as the Northeast, remain fairly strong for small/ budget CPO," Spinella told Auto Remarketing. "We're also finding that CPO pickups are doing exceptionally well in rural and semi-rural areas, especially among contractor and small-business owners who don't want to pop for a new rig but need something reliable and 'almost' new."

And, of course, different automakers are seeing somewhat varying trends within their own certified operations, though some similarities exist.  

Toyota, for one, has certainly experience segmentation in its CPO figures, said Jason Cropper, who is the Toyota Certified Used Vehicle Operations manager.

Specifically, Cropper said the Camry has been continuing its dominance in CPO sales, actually increasing its share from a year ago.

The automaker is also seeing the small SUV segment grow stronger, as well.

"Camry remains the number one selling TCUV, accounting for 25 percent of our volume in August, an increase of 7.5 percent from August 2009," Cropper explained.

"Similar to what the industry is seeing on the new-vehicle side of the business, we also see increased volume in the small SUV segment, which for us is the RAV4," he added. "RAV4 as a percentage of our total TCUV volume was up to 8 percent, while other SUVs and light trucks actually contracted as a percentage of our total TCUV volume."

As far as the reasons for why some vehicles sell better than others, Cropper pointed to consumer demand and the effect of the changing dynamics the new-vehicle market is having on inventory on the certified side.

"The segmentation is a result of a couple of factors. First, customer demand is really driving that segmentation and second, the availability of inventory as a result of the changing new-vehicle market we all witnessed over the last few years," Cropper shared.

Over at Mercedes-Benz, the automaker notched a strong month across the board in August, as CPO Sales hit 6,488 units. However, the automaker showed particular strength in the light truck segment, according to Scott Penza, manager of pre-owned operations for Mercedes-Benz USA.

"All segments had performed well in August, but our dealers experienced the most healthy increase in light trucks. The GL-Class, M-Class and GLK-Class were all up, and outperformed our forecasts," Penza noted.

Meanwhile, at Mazda — which moved 1,302 units in August, its best-ever month — manager of remarketing and CPO Eric Watson said, "The small car and crossover SUV segments are performing the best."

Offering the perspective of Volkswagen, Rob Martin, CPO manager for VW sales operations, explained: "We continue to see strength in the Jetta and Passat, but we are also seeing the start of our newer model vehicles entering the CPO fleet, including Tiguan and Routan.

"This is encouraging and by having vehicles to sell in other segments, the Volkswagen brand hopes to continue our growth in market share," Martin continued.

With regards to the overall CPO market, Spinella looked ahead to what may be in store. He suggests that CUVs are likely to grab more of a CPO foothold as new-vehicle leases in this segment draw to a close, helping the used inventories for this segment start to become more plentiful.

"As more crossovers come to market via new-car leases that are expiring, we expect CUVs to begin showing strong gains in the coming six months to a year," Spinella pointed out. "That's already occurring to some degree, but the used inventory of these models is fairly thin right now. That'll change in September-December."

Moreover, Spinella forecasts a healthy upswing in certified SUVs in the next six months, particularly from General Motors. He listed Chevrolet's Tahoe and Suburban as possible strong selling examples.