Auto sales plunge in March from year ago, improve from Feb.
— -- Never has bad looked so good.
Automakers sold new vehicles at an annual rate of 9.86 million in March, Autodata reported Wednesday, much worse than a year ago, but up from February's 9.12 million annual pace. While more cars and trucks usually are sold in March than in February, the jump this year was 24.5%, the biggest February-to-March gain in at least seven years, Autodata noted.
Analysts and investors saw even the Detroit 3's big sales drops as less terrible than expected. "We think we are getting close to turning the corner," Ford Motor economist Emily Kolinski Morris said.
"The industry started to show some signs of life," GM Vice President Mark LaNeve said. "We had a strong close."
Privately owned Chrysler's sales were off 39.3% from a year ago — about the same as the major Japanese car companies. "Maybe a little … ray of light, a little seedling you have to nurture out there," Chrysler President Jim Press said.
The sales collapse began last year. It's been so deep and fast that GM and Chrysler had to get $17.4 billion in government loans to keep operating. Even so, the companies still might be forced into bankruptcy court, they say.
Major European companies did relatively well in March, sustaining U.S. sales declines of 20% to 30%.
Standouts continued to be South Korea's Hyundai and Kia, down only slightly. Both offer long warranties, and have new models. Hyundai also will take back cars from customers who lose jobs, and forgive the loan even if the car's worth less than the balance. And Hyundai is offering, through this month, to cover three months of payments if a buyer wants to keep the car to look for work.
Ford and GM announced similar programs Tuesday, too late to help March sales. But they are likely to boost future sales, says Itay Michaeli, auto analyst at Citi Investment Research. "Growing momentum for Hyundai-like stimulus makes us more confident that a visible bottom for U.S. auto sales may begin to form," he said in a note to clients after the Ford and GM announcements.
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