IRVINE, Calif. -

In the midst of a challenging used-supply climate that may only grow more cumbersome, automakers still managed to beat year-ago certified pre-owned sales in August and continue to outpace the results from 2010.

Three brands — Hyundai, Kia and Nissan — even set all-time records for CPO sales in August, according to Autodata Corp., which said that overall certified sales for the industry came in at 146,296 units (up 3 percent) for the month with the year-to-date sum at about 1.17 million (up 6.4 percent).

In addition to the all-time record-breakers, the Honda brand had a record August and notched its 2 millionth CPO sale.

But off-lease volume — often the mainstay for sourcing certified-worthy used cars — is expected to decline for the rest of the year on into 2012. So, for dealers to continue to hit such high certified numbers, it may require that they get even more creative in finding cars to shore up their CPO inventories.

In light of this trend, several automakers shared with Auto Remarketing how their dealers are faring with the off-lease supply drop and what they plan on doing to combat this challenge.

At Kia, fleet and remarketing director David Carp said his brand may be helped by the daily rental side of the business.

“Even though our off-lease return projections are low and we do not forecast to increase until CY12, we do see an increase in daily rental returns beginning after Labor Day and returning to normal levels in the fourth quarter,” Carp said told Auto Remarketing. “As domestic OEMs and particularly Japanese OEMs return to normal fleet deliveries, the daily rental companies will start returning their aging MY11’s to auction providing our dealers with much needed CPO-eligible vehicles.”

For Honda and Acura, national remarketing manager Dan Crowe anticipates a challenge, but said that many dealers are adapting well.

“For the remainder of the year, it will be very challenging for our dealers to source good pre-owned vehicles for the CPO program,” Crowe noted. “A lot of our dealers are doing several things such as: 1) using a variety of software tools to data mine their own customer base; 2) working closely with Acura and Honda Financial Services’ ‘Power of Leads’ program; and 3) working the service lanes for potential CPO vehicles.”

Volkswagen has leaned heavily on reaching out to current customers, said Scott Weitzman, who heads up VW’s pre-owned operations.

“Our dealers are aggressively contacting Volkswagen drivers that are in an equity position. Many customers that purchased or leased new vehicles within the last four years are in a strong position to trade-in with positive equity,” Weitzman shared.

“Our dealers can easily switch these customers to a new or CPO vehicle with little or no increase in their current payment. Mining databases and contacting recent customers through CRM systems and BDCs is the chief way to draw those folks into the store,” he continued.

Weitzman added: “Our Maturity Manager program provides dealers with a powerful tool that identifies the right customers, whether they are two months or two years from the end of their term. The brand-new Passat and Beetle models have generated great excitement among our current driver base, too. Dealers are going viral to aggressively ask for trades from customers that are interested in purchasing those new models.”

At Toyota, Brad Heagy, the retail sales and operations manager for TCUV/TRAC, offered the perspective of his brand as well.

“With the launch of the all-new Toyota Camry this fall, given the significant, current Camry UIO population, we anticipate returning Camry and other Toyota model owners to provide healthy trade-in volumes,” Heagy said.

Delving into individual automaker sales results for August — starting first with the three record-breaking brands — Kia moved 787 CPO vehicles for a 19.6-percent gain, pushing its year-to-date sum to 5,466 sales (up 13.3 percent).

Hyundai sold 4,614 CPO vehicles, compared to the 2,271 it moved a year ago. Through August, it has moved 28,534 units, up from 13,709 CPO sales in first eight months of 2010.

The Nissan brand’s certified sales came in at 8,263 units during its best-ever month, up 11.7 percent year-over-year. Through August, it has moved 58,583 CPO vehicles for an 8.1-percent gain.

Moving along, the Infiniti division moved 1,193 CPO rides, up 22.7 percent. Year-to-date sales were at 8,620 units, up 12.3 percent.

The Honda brand moved 19,234 CPO units last month, compared to 18,818 units in August 2010. Year to date, it has sold 154,654 vehicles, up from the 135,621 CPO sales in the first eight months of 2010.

Acura sold 3,790 CPO rides in August, down from 4,154 a year ago. Certified Acura sales through August were at 33,473 units, up from 29,697 vehicles in the year-ago period.

Toyota moved 28,354 certified vehicles in August, compared to 26,567 in the year-ago period. Year-to-sales were pushed to 224,755 units, up from 209,302 in the same span of 2010. Lexus sold 5,419 certified units in August (up 3.3 percent) and year-to-date sales were at 47,042 units (a gain of 6 percent).

In August, VW’s CPO sales came in at 6,407 units (up 19.6 percent), with year-to-date sales at 50,326 units (up 40.8 percent).

Audi moved 3,169 certified vehicles for the month, compared to 2,479 units in August 2010. Through August, yearly sales stood at 25,517 units, compared to 18,751 CPO sales through August 2010.

Continuing on to the domestics, over at General Motors, CPO sales for the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac brands came in at 26,147 units during August, up 1 percent year-over-year. Year-to-date sales for these brands have hit 206,686 vehicles, a 2-percent gain.

“In light of tighter dealer inventory the industry is facing, we are seeing modest increases in our sales,” said Larry Pryg, the automaker’s national manager of CPO vehicles.

“We continue to offer our customers the warranties, benefits and fuel-efficient vehicles they need, and our dealer engagement remains strong. Moving forward, we’re confident our new standard maintenance plan, Owner Care, will drive strong consideration for our vehicles,” he added.

As for GM’s discontinued nameplates, the Hummer brand moved 31 CPO units in August (down from 75 a year ago), the Saturn brand had 1,012 CPO sales (up from 987) and there’re were 1,962 Pontiac certified sales (down 49 percent).

Ford sold 10,942 certified units during August, a 1.3-percent hike. Sales through the first eight months of 2011 are down 6 percent at 85,935 units.

By brand, the Ford division notched 9,003 certified sales in August (down 3.1 percent), while Lincoln/Mercury improved 28.5 percent with 1,939 CPO units sold.

Chrysler’s CPO sales reached 9,110 units last month, a 2.1-percent uptick. For the year-to-date period, it moved 76,240 CPO vehicles for a 7-percent gain.

The Dodge brand led the way with 3,712 sales (up 7.2 percent) in August, followed by Jeep’s 3,306 certified sales (up 4.2 percent). The Chrysler brand sold 2,092 CPO vehicles, an 8.4-percent decrease.

Mercedes-Benz moved 5,901 CPO vehicles in August, a 9-percent year-over-year decrease. The year-to-date sum was at 51,651 certified sales, a decline of 5.6 percent. BMW’s CPO sales hit 6,540 units, a 30.6-percent decrease. Through August, it has sold 58,096 certified vehicles (down 23.5 percent).

Mazda reached certified sales of 1,663 in August (up 28 percent) as year-to-date sales climbed to 12,216 (up 144 percent).

Subaru sold 1,902 CPO rides in August (up 0.1 percent) and increased its year-to-date sum to 15,798 units (up 22.5 percent).

Volvo sold 1,118 certified vehicles in August, compared to 1,387 units a year ago.

Through August, Volvo’s CPO sales have reached 8,639 vehicles, down from 12,252 in the first eight months of 2010.

Sharing the results of other brands, Porsche reported 741 certified sales last month, up from 605 a year ago.

Jaguar moved 309 CPO units in August (down 25.9 percent), while Land Rover sold 86 units (down 67.5 percent).

Mini’s CPO sales came in at 192 units, up 4.3 percent. Saab sold 60 certified vehicles (down 71 percent), while Maserati moved 28 CPO rides (up 7.7 percent).

Mitsubishi and Bentley were each estimated to have sold 30 CPO vehicles.