New Cars Sales Heat Up in March
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Fuse/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — As things began to thaw out in March, so did the reluctance of many consumers to pull the trigger on buying a new car.
The improving weather brought Americans back to car dealerships with most automakers reporting increased sales from March 2013.
Among the major car companies, Chrysler enjoyed the biggest bump at 13 percent, followed by Nissan with a 8.3 percent increase. Toyota noted a 5 percent increase in sales while General Motors and Ford saw new car purchases rise by 4.1 percent and 3 percent, respectively, from a year ago.
Smaller automakers Kia, Mazda, Subaru and Mitsubishi also enjoyed better sales while Volkswagen, Honda and Hyundai experienced modest declines.
Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting at LMC Automotive, said, “The selling pace for the year was slow out of the gate, but the industry remains poised for stable growth in the near-to mid-term.”
The firm predicts overall sales of 16.1 million vehicles in 2014.
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