After two months of chilly results, U.S. light-vehicles sales began to heat up in March as many carmakers reported gains for the month. A total of 1.5 million cars and trucks rolled off dealership lots during March, putting overall sales up 5.6 percent compared to March of last year. The numbers have been released by WardsAuto.com. Their data center provides the most trusted numbers for new car sales.
New vehicle sales for March 2014 were up across the board for Detroit’s three automakers. Fiat Chrysler extended its streak of year-over-year sales gains to 48-consecutive months in March. The auto manufacturer said its U.S. sales increased 12.8 percent to 192,971 vehicles, the group’s best March sales since 2007. General Motors, the nation’s largest automaker, reported its sales climbed 4.1 percent to 256,047 from 245,950 a year ago. Ford, the second largest U.S. automaker, said overall sales increased 3.1 percent to 238,682 cars and trucks. According to a press release from the Ford Motor Company, retail sales were up 3 percent as well for the best March retail result in eight years.
The big Japanese automakers posted mixed sales figures for March 2014. Toyota, the largest Japanese car manufacturer, reported that it sold 215,348 cars and trucks last month, a 4.9 percent gain from the same month in 2014. Bill Fay, Toyota division group vice president and general manager, noted Toyota dealers had their two best sales weekends of the year late in the month and remained optimistic that momentum would spring them into April. Meanwhile, Honda’s overall sales slipped 2 percent from March 2013 results.
So far a total of 3.7 million cars and trucks have been sold here in the U.S. during 2014, a 1.3 percent improvement over last year at this time.
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