U.S. Auto Sales Continue Slide: Down 36.8 percent in March

U.S. vehicle sales among the major automakers for March were down more than 30 percent for the sixth consecutive month - 36.8 percent overall, led by General Motors and Ford.

Some analysts report signs that the slide is bottoming out as the decline actually beat Wall Street forecasts. Others suggest the short term fates of GM and Chrysler inject too much uncertainty into an already traumatized market to yet be certain on any bottom. Even trend-buckers Hyundai Group and Subaru experienced small sales declines in March.

Despite seeing a sales drop of 44.7 percent, GM remained atop the U.S. volume chart for March by moving 155,334 units including Saab, now in EU bankruptcy reorganization.

Toyota sales dropped 39.0 percent for the month, but the Japanese giant managed to sell 132,802 vehicles - 1,700 more than Ford - to maintain second place in U.S. sales volume. Ford's 131,102 vehicles sold - including Volvos - were 42.1 percent fewer than in March 2008.

Most of the higher volume automakers continued to suffer in the U.S. marketplace with struggling Chrysler's sales down 39.3 percent in March on 101,001 units; Honda down 36.3 percent on 88,379 units; and Nissan off 37.7 percent (66,634 vehicles sold).

Hyundai Group sales including Kia slipped 3.3 percent to 65,445 (seventh in U.S. volume) but remain up slightly (0.7 percent) for the first quarter 2009. Subaru, the other Pacific Rim sales success, did drop 2.6 percent in March moving 16,249 units but still is showing positive sales for the year, up 1.6 percent.

Mazda moved 21,974 vehicles for the month, down 33.3 percent. Suzuki sales were off 24.1 percent to 7,981 in March while Mitsubishi sales plummeted 57 percent to 4,6201.

The major German automakers fared a bit better in the U.S. in March - Volkswagen (down 20 percent to 22,254); BMW Group including MINI and Rolls-Royce (off 22.9 percent to 21,161); and Daimler AG including Mercedes-Benz, Maybach and smart (down 23.1 percent to 17,363). In fact, Daimler's smart unit registered a 1.0 percent March U.S. sales increase to 1,746 units.

Meanwhile, a program among EU members to offer discount incentives to car owners for trading in older, inefficient cars for new ones has sparked a resurgence in European consumer confidence and willingness to purchase. Congress has similar cash-for-clunkers legislation under consideration with as much as $5k rebates being bandied about.

A side benefit of the interim EU auto industry recovery may be improved chances of the Fiat-Chrysler partnership coming to fruition, as current Fiat orders are up some 59 percent.