Detroit's Big Three Post Huge Drops in March U.S. Sales

March didn't bring any good news for the U.S. car market as most major brands recorded steep declines in vehicle sales. General Motors and Ford Motor company were the worst hit as their sales were down 44.7% and 42.1% respectively compared to March 2008. Chrysler LLC didn't manage any better with a 39.0% decrease while the same goes for Toyota (-33.6%), Lexus (-40.6%), Mitsubishi (-57.0%), VW (-19.7%), Mercedes-Benz (-25.0%), BMW & MINI (-22.9%), Audi (-19.4%), Honda (-34.2%) and Acura (-29.5%).

Subaru and Hyundai managed to keep their sales somewhat steady reporting a 3.0% and 5.0% decline respectively over March 2008 volumes. On the other hand, Kia saw its sales increase by 0.6% in March '08.