Automakers are expected to post a sharp jump in March U.S. auto sales, supported by hefty incentives from Toyota Motor Corp, analysts said.
Also Tuesday, Toyota U.S. sales chief Jim Lentz said U.S. sales jumped about 35 percent in March from a year earlier.
Toyota introduced high incentives early in March as it sought to jump-start sales after the safety recalls and sales halts a month earlier. Competitors quickly matched those incentives.
Toyota U.S. sales chief Jim Lentz said the company is still reviewing incentive plans for April and has yet to decide whether to extend zero-financing offers and other unprecedented discounts beyond March.
Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co also are expected to be among the leaders in U.S. auto sales for March with the industry expected to report an overall increase of about 25 percent from a year earlier.
Ford is expected to remain the top seller in the U.S. market, a distinction it snared in February for the first time since 1998, according to Edmunds.com.
Ford's sales are expected to rise 40 percent year-on-year and GM sales by 31 percent, IHS Global Insight analyst Chris Hopson said.
Edmunds expects GM's U.S. sales to rise in March, but its retail market share to fall to 17.6 percent from 18.2 percent in March 2009.
All of the top six selling automakers are expected to post sales increases in March from a year earlier except for Chrysler. Automakers report March U.S. sales Thursday.
Most forecasters late in March expected U.S. auto sales of 12 million to 12.5 million vehicles in the seasonally adjusted annualized rate economists use, up from an anemic 9.7 million in March 2009.
"I think we could probably surpass a 13 million SAAR for the month," Autoconomy.com analyst Erich Merkle said.
Merkle said March sales could also be supported by pent-up demand from the recession and snowy weather in the Northeast during February that had hampered sales across the industry.
The March rise is seen as fitting a widely expected arc of a slow recovery for the U.S. automobile sector, which forecasters have said will be healthier in the second half of 2010.
