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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The rising value of the yen is making it ever more difficult for the Japanese automakers to turn a profit, which has forced Nissan to shift some of its Japanese production. In a bid to cut global costs and safeguard itself against the rising yen, Nissan will shift some of its production from Japan to Mexico.
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Chrysler LLC Vice Chairman and President Jim Press said the automaker is in talks with other possible partners if the U.S. Treasury Department rejects a tie-up with Fiat SpA, and defended the proposed alliance saying it would help preserve U.S. jobs.
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