The first two months of the year were dismal for new car sales in the U.S. and Toyota expects more of the same from the month of March. Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe said on Thursday he expects new car sales for March to be equal to or worse than February’s final tally.
“Annualized sales in January and February were a little above 9 million, and we’re hearing that March will be about the same if not worse than February,” President Katsuaki Watanabe told Automotive News.
Watanabe didn’t predict when new car sales would rebound, but said more government incentives are needed to jumpstart the market. However, Wantanabe added he doesn’t foresee any more factory shutdowns beyond May, indicating Toyota is predicting a market uptick during the second half of the year.
If true, Toyota’s recovery timeline would coincide with Fiat’s prediction for the market. Although that should be good news to the world’s automakers, it remains to be seen if General Motors and Chrysler have sufficient funding to even hold on for another two months.
