NEW YORK: US auto sales growth slowed in March, with Ford and GM reporting declines, as consumers stayed cautious through the end of a harsh winter, industry data showed Wednesday.
Sales of cars and trucks rose a bare 0.6 percent from a year ago to 1.55 million units, according to figures compiled by Autodata Corp.
The pickup truck and sport-utility vehicle sector still carried all the weight with a 5.3 percent rise in sales, while passenger cars dropped 4.3 percent.
And while the two largest automakers sagged, Toyota and Hyundai bucked the trend with strong year-on-year increases.
General Motors, the largest automaker, said its US sales fell 2.4 percent from a year ago to 249,875 cars and trucks, with strength in sales to commercial fleets outweighed by sagging retail purchases.
Ford sales slumped 3.4 percent to 235,929 vehicles.
Third-ranked Fiat Chrysler unit FCA US meanwhile eked out a small gain from March 2014, up 1.7 percent to 197,261 units.
"March was a tough month, yet we were able to extend our year-over-year sales streak to an even 60 consecutive months," said Reid Bigland, head of US sales for FCA.
Toyota sales added 4.9 percent to nearly 226,000, and Hyundai, the seventh-largest seller in the US market, gained 12 percent to just over 75,000 units.
For the industry generally, pickup trucks and SUVs and crossovers remained essential growth areas, though FCA recorded a fall in sales of its Ram pickups.
"As the economy gained steam throughout 2014, we knew 2015 would be a strong year for trucks," said Kurt McNeil, GM's vice president for US sales.
"Higher demand dovetailed perfectly with the launches of our new full-size pickups and large SUVs."
GM said its retail sales were down about five percent, while fleet sales gained five percent.
At Ford, the trend was the opposite: the number-two automaker said it had its best March retail sales in nine years, while fleet sales sagged.
"Ford continues prioritizing retail sales to meet strong consumer demand, resulting in lower fleet and overall sales for the month," the company said.
GM and Ford both said they were expanding production of pickup trucks and SUVs to meet the demand, with Ford saying it could not meet demand for its new aluminum-bodied F-150 pickup.
Toyota reported similar challenges.
"We're having a hard time keeping up with the demand for luxury utility vehicles," said Jeff Bracken, Lexus group vice president.
The industry's slowdown last month reflects the overall weaker growth in consumer spending, despite a surge in job creation and lower gasoline prices that economists said should add to households' disposable incomes.
Autodata said the March sales came in at an annual pace of 17.15 million units, better than February's 16.23 million unit level.
But analysts also said that harsh weather could have stalled buying, and give way to a surge in the coming months.
"There's pent-up demand from the first quarter due to harsher than normal weather conditions, so the second quarter looks to be even more favorable," said Eric Lyman, vice president of industry insights for TrueCar.
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