Auto sales strongest since ’07

DETROIT – The American auto industry’s recovery has moved into the fast lane.

With gas prices at nearly $4, smaller cars like the Ford Focus, Nissan Versa and Fiat 500 flew off dealer lots in March and gave U.S. carmakers their best monthly sales in almost five years.

Larger vehicles sold well, too, offering more evidence of growing confidence in the economic recovery. Small businesses, farmers and others took advantage of big promotions to buy pickups.

In all, Americans bought 1.4 million cars and trucks in March, up 13 percent from the same month a year ago. Edmunds.com said it was the most vehicles sold since August 2007.

General Motors, Chrysler and Toyota all reported double-digit gains over last March. Nissan and Hyundai set company records. Only Honda Motor Co. reported a decline.

If car sales stay at the same rate as March, they would end the year at 14.4 million, up from 12.8 million in 2011. While that’s still below the 17 million of the booming mid-2000s, it’s far higher than the industry’s downturn in 2009, when 10.6 million vehicles were sold.

Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry analysis at car buying site TrueCar.com, expects continued strong sales this year, thanks to compelling new products, improvements in consumer confidence and the stock market, and low interest rates.

“The good news is that the recovery has legs,” he said. He expects total sales of 14.5 million in 2012.

That would be a faster pace than many were predicting at the start of the year, and it builds on a strong performance in January and February. As recently as October, J.D. Power and Associates lowered its 2012 forecast from 14.1 million vehicles to 13.8 million because of high gas prices and continuing economic uncertainty.

The auto sector’s recovery is helping the entire economy.

“Auto is important because it creates so many other jobs,” said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University. “Think about the things that go into an auto: glass, textiles, rubber. There’s a lot of financing activity. We are talking about a very significant portion of job creation.”

Sohn said a lot of pent-up demand remains in the U.S., from people who couldn’t afford cars during the recession to those who waited for Japanese inventories to improve after last March’s earthquake. GM’s U.S. sales chief, Don Johnson, says pent-up demand will continue to fuel sales well into next year.

Sohn said high gas prices are helping persuade people to trade in older, less-efficient vehicles.