Auto Makers See 7.8% Gain in Early March

Sales of domestically built cars and trucks rose 7.8% in early March, allaying analysts’ fears that a drop-off in sales at the end of February signaled renewed weakness.

“The recovery is well in place,” Lehman Bros. auto analyst Joseph Phillippi said Monday after the auto makers released their sales figures for March 1-10.

“Yes, we’re still going to have ups and downs in numbers, but this gives lie to the concern people had last week that things are falling apart.”

The market strength once again was in light trucks, such as minivans, sport utility vehicles and pickups.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, trucks sold at an annual rate of 4.4 million, compared to 3.8 million for the same period last year. Cars sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.5 million, up from 6.2 million in the same period last year.

On a daily basis for the nine selling days in early March, trucks were up 19.7%, while car sales edged up 0.2%. There were eight selling days in the period last year.

“Trucks are still very strong,” said Scott Willingham, general sales manager at Boulevard Automotive Group in Long Beach. “They’re keeping our head above water.”

Boulevard, which sells GMC Trucks, Buicks, Saabs and Subarus, reported a strong early month for Buick, the only one of GM’s five car divisions that had higher sales in the period. GM’s separate Saturn car subsidiary also reported higher sales.

GM’s overall car sales were off 4.8% in early March, but an 11.7% increase in truck sales resulted in a 0.7% gain in total vehicle sales.

Ford Motor Co. reported 7.3% higher car sales and a 22.2% improvement in sales of light trucks for a 13.6% gain in overall vehicle sales.

According to estimates by Ward’s Automotive Reports, Chrysler Corp. car sales were up 29.9% and truck sales were up 20.6% for an overall gain of 24.1%. Chrysler releases its sales figures only monthly, leaving analysts to rely on such estimates of the No. 3 auto maker’s results.