U.S. auto sales declined across the board for the large automakers, as the big three and Toyota all had sales decline in the double digits over last year.
While sales would have fallen for all of them, it does need to be taken into account that there were two less sales days this year against last year for March.
Chrysler struggled the most, as they dropped by 19.4 percent from March 2007, only selling 166,386 units against last year's 206,435.
General Motors (NYSE: GM) wasn't far behind, as their sales plunged by 19.1 percent, selling 282,732 vehicles, down from 349,866 in March 2007.
Ford (NYSE:F) plunged by 14.3 percent, with vehicle sales reaching 213,074 for Lincoln and Mercury brands.
Toyota (NYSE:TM) fared the best of the large companies, with sales reaching 217,730 units, a decrease of 10.2 percent over the 242,675 sold last year.
Along with two less sales days, the companies also said part of the reason for the sharp decline was their abandoning of sales to rental car fleets.
While Honda Motor (NYSE:HMC) and Nissan Motor (Nasdaq:NSANY) sales also fell, Volkswagen AG (LSE:VKW.L) and Hyundai Motor (OTC:HYMLF.PK) sales increased.
For automakers based in the U.S., domestic share dropped to 48.4 percent, down from the 51.6 percent market share they enjoyed last year. Automakers based in Asia increased their market share to 44.4 percent, an increase of 2.5 percent.
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Tracked on: April 9, 2008 10:04 PM | Permalink to Trackback