There was some alarm a couple of weeks ago when Toyota Motor Co. announced that it was cutting back on production of its Tundra truck and Sequoia sport utility vehicle.

If the Japanese automaker is cutting production, does that mean that the $1.3 billion plant it’s building in Northeast Mississippi is in danger of being scuttled, some wondered? The mid-sized Highlander SUV will be built at the Blue Springs plant, so some of the worried thinking was that a ripple effect could mean potential problems with building the plant.

Rest your fears - that isn’t happening, barring a complete collapse of the auto industry and an implosion of the world’s second-largest automaker.

So why cut production of the Tundra and Sequoia? While sales of the hulking vehicles are higher than a year ago, Toyota expects demand to slow. Given the higher gas prices and other economic worries the move is in anticipation that consumer spending will pull back on big-ticket items.

Tundra sales were, in fact, nearly 17 percent higher in March than a year earlier. Sequoia sales were up nearly 20 percent. So it’s not like the bottom was falling out. However, total Toyota SUV sales - which include the FJ Cruiser, 4Runner, Highlander, Land Cruiser and Sequoia - were down nearly 20 percent in March and 15 percent for the year.

Highlander sales, by the way, were down 0.2 percent in March but were up more than 7 percent for the year.

And while Toyota will be trimming production, it’s not laying anybody off.

Other automakers off, too

But Toyota wasn’t the only automaker to post a less-than-stellar truck and SUV sales in March.

GM’s truck and SUV sales dropped 22 percent in March; its Hummer brand sales were down 29 percent.

At Ford, sales for trucks and large SUVs fell 17 percent. Even its popular F-Series pickup, the best-selling truck for 31 years, were down 24 percent.

Chrysler’s light truck sales fell nearly 22 percent. Its Jeep brand had sales drop 12 percent.

Honda’s truck and SUV sales declined 12 percent.

Nissan’s truck and SUV sales dropped 20 percent. The company’s Titan pickup plummeted 45 percent while its Armada SUV plunged 43 percent

Auto analysts say - no surprise - that small car sales are faring much better, with four-cylinder vehicles gaining in popularity.

Will auto sales improve? Some automakers are hopeful that the economic stimulus package that consumers will be getting in the next few months will spur buying.

Some rough months likely are still ahead for the industry before it gets better.

But thankfully, the building continues in Blue Springs. And in Dorsey and Baldwyn.

Toyota Motor Corp and General Motors Corp are recalling more than 662,000 vehicles sold in the United States due to defects in power windows, the two companies said on Wednesday.

Toyota will recall 539,500 Corolla and Matrix vehicles for the 2003 and 2004 model years, it said in a statement.

GM said it would recall 122,598 Pontiac Vibe hatchbacks, which share the same platform with Toyota’s Matrix and are built by GM in a joint venture with the Japanese automaker.

On vehicles equipped with power windows, the driver and front passenger glass bolts may loosen and cause the door glass to separate from the window regulator, Toyota said. Vehicles equipped with manual windows are not subject to the recall.

Toyota will notify vehicle owners by mail, beginning in late April. It advised owners to contact their local Toyota dealer for inspection and repairs.

Replacement of the driver and front passenger door glass bolts will be done at no charge, Toyota said.

USA Today reports, “Nissan says it will stop making the Quest minivan and its full-size SUV, the Infiniti QX56,” instead using the factory that currently makes the vehicles to produce “light commercial vehicles.”  Nissan “did not say when or where —or if — it will build next-generation versions of the minivan and big SUVS, which are slow sellers in declining market segments,” meaning production of the vehicles may cease altogether.  Nissan spokeswoman Frederique Le Greves told reports, “When we get to the end of each vehicle’s cycle, we look at the market” and decide whether to offer new versions of the vehicles.

While Nissan insists it has not made a formal decision to remove the vehicles from its lineup, the move may be a prelude to doing just that.  Kicking Tires comments, “Sounds to us like company speak that Nissan will not build new versions of the two. If it actually announced that fact today, though, it could impact sales of the 2009 models that will still be built and sold on new-car lots.”

The AP recently reported that Nissan suffered a 4-percent sales decline in the first quarter of 2008, and poor minivan and SUV sales were part of the reason for the drop.  “Nissan’s truck and SUV sales plummeted 20 percent, with the Nissan Titan pickup down 45 percent for the month and the Nissan Armada SUV [the QX 56 is a modified Armada] off 43 percent.”

USA Today called the Quest “an also-ran in the shrinking minivan market, with sales down about 38% the first quarter vs. a year ago, according to Autodata. Its sales rank it eighth among nine vans currently in production, behind even the nearly invisible Mazda5 mini-minivan.”  The QX45, meanwhile, “sells in such small numbers that it ranks 80th of 102 SUVs currently in production.”

Research the current models, and their competition, with U.S. News’ rankings and reviews of minivans and luxury large SUVs.

The popularity of Hybrid vehicles in the United States continues to rise.

According to a report by the Green Car Congress in Washington, D.C., sales of hybrids in the U.S. rose 10 percent in March 2008 compared to 2007 sales in the same month.

The total sale of all hybrids in U.S last month was the second-highest ever, falling only behind the May 2007 total. The total pushed hybrid to a total sales share of 2.8 percent.

Toyota reported 20,635 sales of the Prius in March 2008, an increase of eight percent over March 2007 and the model’s second-best month’s results to date.

The Camry Hybrid sold 6,930
units, up 35 percent, and representing 17.1 per cent of all Camry sales.

The Highlander Hybrid sold 2,239 units, down 10 per cent from March 2007, and representing 20.7 per cent of all Highlanders sold.

The Lexus RX400h sold 1,570 units, up seven percent, and representing 20.3 percent of all RX models sold. The GS450h sold 65 units, down 64 percent, while the LS600h sold 113 units.

The Honda Civic Hybrid sold 3,769 units, up 34 percent and representing 11.5 per cent of all Civic sales. The Honda Accord Hybrid, now discontinued, sold 53 units, down 86 percent and representing 0.1 per cent of all Accord models sold.

Combined sales of the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner hybrids dropped 20 percent to 2,008 units, representing 9.0 of all Escape and Mariner models sold.

The Nissan Altima Hybrid sold 832 units, an 80 percent increase and 2.6 percent of all Altima models sold.

The stock markets may have tanked, oil prices may have sky rocketed and interest rates may have gone up. But that has not stopped the common man from walking into a car dealership and driving home his set of dream wheels. Most car companies sold more cars in India during financial year 2007-08 than they have ever done before. And there’s one big reason for this: the onslaught of new models hitting Indian roads.

With more options on the table, customers have flocked to showrooms and the numbers tell the story. Maruti Suzuki rode strong with a 12% growth in sales. While small cars continued to dominate the company’s sales with a 13.4% growth, its brand new Maruti SX4 sedan helped it break the domination of Honda City in the mid-size sedan category.

And as a result, Honda, bound by capacity constraints for most part of the year, found it tough to keep up its sales during the year. But it was General Motors (GM) that recorded the highest growth in percentage terms. Again a new model the Chevrolet Spark coupled with some customer incentives and interesting variants garnered the numbers.

Next in line was Fiat, which saw a revival in sales thanks to its distribution tie-up with Tata Motors. But with just 3379 units sold over the year, the company still has a long way to go if it wants to make its presence felt. The newly launched diesel Palio with the 1.3 litre Multijet engine and the upcoming Linea and Grande Punto may just do the trick.

Another star attraction during the year was the Mahindra Renault Logan, an entry level sedan which gave the existing biggies a serious run for their money.

Perhaps the best validation of the fact that new model launches have driven sales comes from Tata Motors, which witnessed a decline in sales because it could not offer something new to its customer. During the year, company executives reiterated this lacuna, assuring customers that 2008 will be the year to watch out.

The refurbished portfolio includes the new Indica and the much-awaited Nano. Ford too had a similar story to tell. While there might be some sighs of relief in Dearborn, Michigan with the income of $2.3 billion from the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover, the falling sales in market like India must be a cause of worry.

It’s a new month, and new April incentives are gradually rolling out. GM’s the first to post, and thus far the deals are slightly underwhelming.

Chevy is offering $1,500 cash back on its Impala sedan, a perennial best-seller despite its otherwise bland personality. The carmaker is also giving back $2,000 on the 2008 Avalanche, which Cars.com reviewer Kelsey Mays lauded in his review when the truck first hit the scene. Both cars also have 36-month, 2.9% financing offers.

Chevy is continuing its usual high-dollar truck incentives in April, offering between $1,500 and $3,250 cash back on its various Silverado trucks. Incentives expire April 30.

Sales of new cars nose-dived last month by more than 23 percent from a year before, partly because early Easter holidays shortened the trading month.

Total new vehicle sales reported to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) declined by 17.5 percent year on year to 47 778 units, with new car sales falling to 27 724 units.

Motor industry analyst Tony Twine, a director of Econometrix, said last month had two fewer trading days than in March 2007, or a 9 percent reduction in selling time.

He noted that growth in passenger vehicle sales had been in a downswing since October 2006, an early response to the interest rate hikes that began in June 2006. Car sales had fallen 30 percent in the 18 months since hitting an incredibly high point just before October 2006.

There was a huge dichotomy in the economy as downward pressure on consumers to prevent them spending contrasted with a ballooning business sector that was trying to sustain the fixed investment cycle.

Sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and minibuses dropped to 16 616 units last month, a dip of 10.7 percent from March last year.

Medium truck sales rose by 2.6 percent to 1 321 units and heavy truck and bus sales leapt 9 percent to 2 117 units.

Nico Vermeulen, Naamsa’s executive director, said the data should be seen in context, because new vehicle sales in March last year represented one of the highest sales months on record and Easter holidays fell in March this year, reducing the number of selling days.

Jacques Brent, the vice-president for sales and market at the Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa, said sales last month were slightly up on February, but overall market sentiment remained unchanged with “tough times ahead”.

Brent said Ford had revised its forecast for total industry new vehicle sales downwards to 570 000 this year from 590 000.

Brand Pretorius, the chairman of McCarthy Motor Holdings, said the key reason for the much lower car sales was that both business and consumer confidence were under siege.

Current sales figures were not an accurate reflection of spontaneous demand, he added. They resulted from intense discounts, cash-back offers and subsidised interest rates that were stimulating the market artificially.

“We believe market demand is actually at a significantly lower level. Purely from a motor industry perspective, there is no need for a further interest rate increase, as demand has already slowed right down.”

Malcolm Gauld, the vice-president of sales and marketing at General Motors South Africa, said the significant cost push burden of a sudden deterioration in the rand meant pricing adjustments were unavoidable in the short term.