No, the needle on the record is not stuck (for those of us old enough to remember what a record was), this is not a literal repeat. March sales data for the auto industry is out and while the decline from the previous year was not quite as steep as February, the news is still plenty bad.
Ford and General Motors had the biggest drop in sales, 42.1% and 44.7% respectively compared to March, 2008. Chrysler was close behind with a 39.3% drop. The largest Japanese automakers were right there with them, with Honda dropping 36.3% and Toyota declining 39%.
Total auto sales in the U.S. were down 36.8%, a decline of nearly half a million vehicles sold over the previous year.