Out of 20 automakers that sell cars and trucks in the United States, only four posted higher sales in March from the same month a year ago, according to the folks at Autodata Corp. Volkswagen boosted sales by 7.8 percent with some blowout incentives, while Korean automaker Hyundai saw a 1.9 percent increase.

But the buyers of Italian supercars aren't letting high gas prices and recession fears get them down. Maserati posted a 15.2 percent sales increase in March, while Ferrari sales were up 9.4 percent. Of course, we're not talking big sales numbers here. Maserati delivered 250 cars while Ferrari sold 163.

 

Not so over at Porsche, unfortunately...

Porsche Shares Drop as North American Sales Decline
2008-04-02 13:01 (New York)

By Chad Thomas

April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Porsche SE, maker of the 911 sports car, fell 5.2 percent in German trading after the company said North American sales slumped 24 percent in March because the market was ``gripped by recession fears.''

Deliveries in the world's largest automobile market declined to 2,624 cars and sport-utility vehicles last month, Stuttgart, Germany-based Porsche said yesterday after the close of trading.

March sales of the 911 in the region dropped 42 percent to 825 vehicles, while the Boxster plunged 49 percent to 572 cars. Porsche Chief Executive Officer Wendelin Wiedeking said in January that he's reducing U.S. inventories in anticipation of delivery declines. Economic growth in Russia, China and the Middle East will help this fiscal year's vehicle sales match 2007 figures, even amid a U.S. market decline, Porsche said March 19.

``While we estimate Porsche may make twice as much profit in the emerging markets compared to the U.S., this does not fully mitigate the risk of U.S. profits collapsing into U.S. losses,'' Adam Jonas, an analyst with Morgan Stanley in London, said in a note to clients.

Jonas cut his recommendation on Porsche today to ``underweight'' from ``overweight'' and lowered his share-price estimate by 16 percent to 123 euros from 147 euros.

Porsche dropped 6.07 euros to 111.75 euros in Frankfurt. The stock has declined 18 percent this year, valuing the carmaker at 19.7 billion euros ($30.8 billion).

--With reporting by Andreas Scholz in Frankfurt. Editors: Tom Lavell, David Risser.