U.S. auto demand begins to thaw in March

DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. consumer demand for new vehicles began to thaw in March, with the top six automakers reporting mixed sales results on Wednesday.

With one fewer selling day this year, March sales trailed the year-ago tally by a whisker. Analysts polled by Reuters estimated automakers sold about 1,524,000 cars in March, slightly below last year's 1,537,288.

But the annualized sales rate rebounded sharply in March, to an estimated 16.9 million vehicles.

Slowed by ferocious winter weather, sales in February were 1,257,619, with seven of the top eight automakers falling short of analysts' expectations. The annualized selling rate in February was 16.2 million.

March results varied from company to company, with only three of the top six automakers beating analysts' expectations and only two exceeding their year-earlier sales.

Only Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> managed to do both. Its sales rose 2.9 percent, to 229,959 vehicles. Analysts had expected 223,280.

March was a ?barnburner month,? said Bob Carter, senior vice president of automotive operations at Toyota?s U.S. sales arm. Demand for trucks and SUVs is driving the market, he said. ?Every one of our light trucks ... is supply-restricted.?

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said sales were up 1.7 percent, to 197,261, in line with expectations.

Ford Motor Co and Nissan Motor Co <7201.T> beat expectations, but their sales fell from a year ago. Ford was down 3.4 percent, to 235,929, while Nissan dropped 2.7 percent to 145,085.

General Motors Co and Honda Motor Co <7267.T> missed expectations, as sales dipped at both companies. GM was down 2.4 percent, to 249,875, and Honda fell 5.3 percent to 126,293.

Luxury vehicle sales were soft in March, with the notable exception of the full-size Lincoln Navigator and Cadillac Escalade sport utility vehicles. Among the luxury brands reporting at midday, Toyota's Lexus had a year-to-year increase of nearly 9 percent, and Nissan's Infiniti was up 0.2 percent.

Ford and Chevrolet amped up the stakes in full-size pickups, with dealers offering discounts of up to $9,000 on 2015 models and $12,000 or more on leftover 2014 models.

Despite the hefty price rollbacks, sales of Ford's best-selling F-Series pickup dropped nearly 5 percent in March. At GM, Chevrolet Silverado sales were up 7 percent.

Analysts said rising consumer sentiment in March was reflected in higher vehicle transaction prices. Online consumer marketplace TrueCar Inc estimated the average price of a new vehicle in March rose to $32,201, up 2.1 percent from a year earlier.

(Additional reporting by Bernie Woodall and Ben Klayman in Detroit and Joe White in New York; editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Meredith Mazzilli and Matthew Lewis)