By Bernie Woodall and Deepa Seetharaman
DETROIT/SAN FRANCISCO Tue Apr 1, 2014 12:09pm EDT
(Reuters) - U.S. auto sales inched up more than expected in March after two months when weather reduced demand, but the robust sales rebound some expected will have to wait until April, initial reports by major automakers showed on Tuesday.
Ford Motor Co reported a 3 percent rise in U.S. sales; Toyota Motor Corp a 5 percent rise; and Chrysler Group, a unit of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FIA.MI), a 13 percent increase from a year ago. All three narrowly beat expectations by industry research firm Edmunds.com.
Nissan Motor Co also beat expectations, selling 149,136 vehicles in the month, up 8 percent.
Cold weather and snow kept many consumers away from dealer showrooms in early March, but the second half of the month showed promise that April will be a strong sales month, said sales executives from Ford and Toyota.
Ford's U.S. sales chief John Felice said the sales momentum in late March shows "the trend positive heading into April."
Toyota's U.S. sales boss Bill Fay said, "we're optimistic that momentum will spring us in into April."
U.S. auto sales leader General Motors Co said it will delay until late Tuesday afternoon its March U.S. sales statement because of computer glitches. The statement was scheduled to be released at 9:30 a.m. (1330 GMT).
Industry research firm Edmunds.com forecast GM's U.S. sales for March rose 0.5 percent.
Most of the attention on GM will be focused on Chief Executive Mary Barra's appearance Tuesday at a Congressional hearing on the company's slow response to defective ignition switches, blamed for at least 13 deaths.
Alec Gutierrez, analyst with industry research firm Kelley Blue Book, said it was too early to tell if GM's recall crisis has hurt GM sales, but says that it is possible that GM buyers may stray to other automakers soon.
"I wouldn't be surprised to see some conquest activity maybe in April or May," said Gutierrez.
GM shares were up 1.1 percent at $34.80 in midday trading, while Ford shares added 3.9 percent to $16.21.
Forty analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect an annualized selling rate of 15.8 million vehicles, or about a 2 percent increase in sales from last March. LMC Automotive two weeks ago lowered its 2014 U.S. sales forecast to 16.1 million from 16.2 million vehicles.
"Despite a noticeable improvement from the first two months of the year, this may disappoint some investors expecting a sharp rebound on the back of pent-up demand, and could call into question growth forecasts for 2014," said Joseph Amaturo, analyst with The Buckingham Research Group.
BOOST FROM INCENTIVES
Auto sales are an early indicator of U.S. consumer spending. January and February sales were slowed by massive snowstorms and cold temperatures over much of the United States.
The boost in sales may be linked to higher incentives by automakers in March, said Larry Dominique, executive vice president at industry researcher TrueCar. He said incentives rose 8 percent to an average $2,800 per new vehicle sale.
Automakers and dealers offer incentives, ranging from discounts to low interest rates, to entice consumers to buy.
Ford, No. 2 in U.S. sales behind GM, said its F-Series pickup truck sales rose 5 percent to about 71,000 in March and its Fusion sedan sales rose 9 percent to nearly 33,000.
Chrysler, No. 4 in the U.S. market, relied on hefty sales of its Ram trucks and Jeep Cherokee SUV, which both showed 26 percent sales jumps from a year ago.
Subaru, a division of Fuji Heavy Industries, said its March sales rose 21 percent to 36,701, led by a 53 percent rise for its best-selling vehicle in the U.S. market, the Forester crossover vehicle.
Volkswagen AG's U.S. auto sales fell 3 percent to 36,717 vehicles in March. Sales of its best-selling cars, the Jetta and the Passat, rose 5 percent and 16 percent, respectively.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp (7211.T) had its best sales month since August 2008. Its March U.S. sales rose 70 percent to 8,996 vehicles.
(Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)