March vehicle sales were still bad, but automakers expressed some cautious optimism Wednesday after the monthly tally showed a smaller year-over-year decline than most had been expecting and an improvement over February’s dismal numbers.

U.S. car and truck sales totaled 857,735 units last month — a 24 percent improvement over February’s total, but 36.8 percent less than the 1,356,926 vehicles sold in March of 2008.
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“There is no deal for the Honda team. There is neither agreement nor negotiations,” a source at the businessman’s industrial and financial empire said on condition of anonymity.

Honda, with an annual racing budget of around £275 million, pulled out of the Formula One world championship earlier this month and was put up for sale with the Japanese manufacturer struggling in the current global economic slowdown.
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