Auto News 5

It seems only yesterday they were the masters of the universe. Yet just yesterday, literally, my friends at Citibank fired an e-mail my way, inviting me to take advantage of exclusive "access to great concerts, dining, sporting events, and more." Translation: the bank won't loan money to me or anyone else, by rights it is bankrupt, yet when it's not busy jacking up credit card interest rates to usurious heights or lobbying for more bailout money, Citi makes time to suggest expensive ticket purchases for selected events that valued idiots - I mean, customers like me - might care to see, such as Kevin Nealon in the round (Citi's suggestion). All so I can pay them an additional charge.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, auto sales in March were dismal, again. Any month that sees the stock market fall back onto its face, job losses surge (especially among white-collar workers), and renewed talk of bankruptcy for GM and Chrysler isn't going to be a month when droves of consumers suddenly decide to rush down to their local dealerships with fistfuls of cash in hand. Industry-wide, sales were down by 37% compared to a year ago, but what few people remember is that March 2008 sales weren't so great either, off by 12% from the prior year. What's striking about this March is that there's been very little change in the mix of which models are relatively strong and which are practically sale-proof, as we'll see when we compare the March '09 sales figures and those for the first three months of the year.