March Car Sales Better Than Expected, Chrysler Leads

Based on analysts’ estimates, March’s seasonally adjusted annual sales rate for 2014 stands at 15.8 million units. The consensus U.S. seasonally adjusted annual rate calls for 12.4 million domestic sales.

New car prices were up in March by $450 year-over-year but down $185 from February. Kelley Blue Book notes that the increase in price has more than offset the increased spending on incentives, and the industry research firm expects sales to continue rising as spring turns to summer.

Chrysler Group’s year-over-year sales rose 13% to 193,915 units, the company’s best March sales level since 2007. The company’s Jeep, Ram Truck and Fiat brands all posted year-over-year gains in March. The Jeep brand posted a sales gain of 47% in March and the Ram brand posted a gain of 26%. Chrysler projected a seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales from all manufacturers at 16.2 million units for 2014, up from last month’s projection of 15.8 million. The company ended the month with 71 days supply of inventory, down from 85 days of supply at the end of February.

Ford Motor Co.’s (NYSE: F) U.S. sales rose 3% year-over-year in March, to 244,167 Ford and Lincoln vehicles, compared with March 2013 sales of 236,160. Sales were up for all types of vehicles, with car sales up 2.6%, utility vehicle sales up 3.6% and truck sales down 4.1%. That is a full turnaround from February sales, when total sales fell 6% and sales of all types of vehicles fell. Ford noted that F-Series pickups sold more than 70,000 units in March, only the fourth time in seven years that has happened.

Due to a technical glitch, General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) did not report sales Tuesday morning. The company said it would post sales by the close of business.

Sales at Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) for the month totaled 215,348 units, up 8.9% compared with March 2013. A company executive said, “Toyota dealers had their two best sales weekends of the year late in the month, and we’re optimistic that momentum will spring us in into April.”

Volkswagen sold 36,717 units in the United States in March. That is a drop of 2.6% year-over-year, on top of a 13.6% drop in February sales. Year to date, VW sales are down 11.1%.

Nissan’s March sales rose 8.3%% to 149,136 units, a record for the month of March. Sales of the company’s redesigned Rogue crossover rose 26.3% year-over-year to 19,420 units.