While the overall sales pace slowed down slightly in March compared to February (13.1 million SAAR vs. 13.4 in February) numerous brands posted their strongest sales ever. Hyundai, Nissan and Kia all reported best monthly sales in history while Audi, Mercedes, and Porsche reported best March sales in recent history. Subaru recorded its second best month ever, powered by newly released models the Chrysler group saw best sales in three years while Volkswagen reported best sales in 7 years on a near two-fold increase in Jetta sales. March was also a special month for Ford (up 28.2%) as it outsold General Motors for the first time since February 2010. Among major manufacturers only Toyota posted a sales decline (-6.6) while its luxury division Lexus was nearly flat. On the luxury front Porsche, Land Rover, Audi, Infiniti, and BMW had double digit sales growth.
In the electric mobility front increased availability resulted in a sharp surge of Volt and Leaf sales. The Chevrolet Volt posted sales of 608 units while Nissan sold 298 Leafs.
For the time being it appears that neither high gas prices nor plant closures in Japan have affected US sales, stay tuned next month to see if the current trend continues.
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