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Auto sales in March and first quarter down nearly across the board

Nearly every major automaker reported weak U.S. sales for March and the first quarter of 2019, citing a rough start to the year, but said a robust economy and strong labor market should encourage consumers to buy more vehicles as 2019 rolls on. GM, which no longer releases monthly sales figures, saw first-quarter sales fall 7 percent, with declines across all brands. Sales of Silverado pickup trucks fell nearly 16 percent and the high-margin Chevy Suburban large SUV dropped 25 percent. Ford also no longer releases monthly sales numbers, but is due to release its first-quarter sales figures on Thursday. According to industry data, Ford's sales fell 2 percent in the quarter and 5 percent in March. Ford representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment. FCA reported a 7 percent fall in U.S. sales in March and a 3 percent drop for the first quarter. All of FCA's brands dropped in March, except for Ram, which saw a 15 percent increase in pickup truck sales. "The industry had a tough first quarter, but with spring finally starting to show its face and continued strong economic indicators ... we are confident that new vehicle sales demand will strengthen going forward," FCA's U.S. head of sales, Reid Bigland, said in a statement. Toyota reported a 3.5 percent fall in U.S. sales in March and 5 percent for the first quarter, hurt by declining demand for its Corolla sedans and Camry vehicles. "While some of our competitors are abandoning sedans, we remain optimistic about the future of the segment," Toyota said in a statement. Nissan posted a 5.3 percent drop in sales in March, and its first-quarter sales were down 11.6 percent. Honda and Hyundai bucked the trend. Honda's U.S. sales rose 4.3 percent in March and 2 percent in the quarter, while Hyundai's were up 1.7 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively. Passenger-car sales suffered throughout the January-March quarter compared with the same period in 2018 as Americans continued to abandon them in favor of larger, more comfortable pickup trucks and SUVs, which are far more profitable for automakers. The battle for market share in the particularly lucrative large-pickup truck market intensified in the quarter, as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' Ram brand outsold the U.S.' No. 1 automaker General Motors' Chevrolet-brand trucks. The two automakers have both launched redesigned pickup trucks.

Dead man went unnoticed in pickup at airport for nearly 8 months

The Kansas City Star reports that on Sept. 12, Lenexa, Kan., police found a dead man in the cab of his Dodge Ram 1500 at the Kansas City International Airport. Though a disturbing thing to find at any time, the scene was made all the worse by the fact that the body had been sitting in that truck for eight months. That's right, for virtually all of 2017 to date. It seems likely that the missing man, Randy Potter, committed suicide, and it likely happened the night he was reported missing, which according to KCTV 5, was Jan. 17. This is because, according to the Chicago Tribune, Potter's parking ticket was printed that day. The fact that it took eight months to find Potter is astonishing. Although the Associated Press reports that Potter's body was covered by a blanket and the windows of the Ram were tinted, those aren't really excusable excuses. Potter's truck was in a large parking lot, one that holds nearly 6,000 cars, according to the Kansas City Star, but that shouldn't have mattered, since the company in charge of the lot, S-P+, was supposed to take an inventory of every car in the lot every single night. Plus, Potter's family took the license plate number of the truck to the parking lot security companies not long after his disappearance. Clearly no one from the parking company was watching closely. As for the police, the Star reports that they never checked the airport since there wasn't any evidence to say he might have gone there. Yet they say they spent "several hundred man hours" on the case, and their operating theory was that he had left his family. One way people leave is by plane. So how was the body finally discovered? Someone who parked nearby complained of a horrible smell. After eight months, no doubt. It's puzzling that no one would have reported a smell sooner. Though the problem would have been bad enough in winter and spring, it would have become pretty intense in the summer months, with high temperatures in the 90s translating into incredible heat inside a truck on shadeless pavement under the relentless Missouri sun. Related video:

2018 Ram 3500 takes the truck torque crown

In the neverending war for bragging rights between pickup manufacturers, Ram just picked up a big one. The new 3500 heavy duty has an updated 6.7-liter Cummins straight-six diesel that produces 930 pound-feet of torque. Not only is that a gain of 30 pound-feet of torque over the outgoing model, but it's more than the heavy-duty trucks from Ford and GM. Specifically it makes five more pound-feet than the 925 pound-feet of torque in the most potent Ford Super Duty, and 20 more than the Silverado and Sierra heavy-duty trucks that make a maximum of 910 pound-feet. Ram didn't provide horsepower specs for the new Cummins engine, though. The outgoing engine made 385 horsepower. If Ram and Cummins were able to get such a large boost in torque, odds are that horsepower has also increased. There's also a good chance that even with more power, the updated Cummins may not exceed the horsepower ratings of the Ford and GM trucks. The Ford is currently second place in power with 440 horsepower, and the GM trucks have the most with 445. Final specs on horsepower, as well as pricing will probably appear soon, since the trucks will be arriving at dealerships at the end of August. Related Video: RAM Truck