Toyota Sales Up 50% in March: US Wants a Black Box in Your Car

 U.S. sales of Toyotas were up 50% in the first 8 days of March following press innundated with stories of death and scary rides in accelerators-gone-wild autos. The nanniest-government ever told Congress this week they are considering putting a little "black box" in all vehicles to capture data on speed and braking.

A professor from the University of Miami School of Business Administration says Americans are "picking low-hanging fruit" when they buy a Toyota. Do we think this prof probably drives a GM, or owns stock in Obama's Government Motors?

After a recall of 8 million cars, we might be forgiven for thinking the Toyota brand will have a difficult time recovering, but sales for the models affected by the recall were only down 13% - less than expected by Toyota.

Auto sales for Ford, GM and Toyota are up. Ford plans to build 32% more vehicles in their second quarter than one year ago. Government-owned GM says they will no longer reveal their production forecast.

Ford sales are up 35% over the last year. Government Motors sales on the 4 brands retained: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC, were up 32% over the last year, but for all brands and models, GM saw only a 13% increase.

A Ford executive's comment indicates that Toyota buyers are not easily giving up on the company: "Frankly, our studies show that many of the Toyota buyers were still undecided as to what they were going to do."

Toyota is offering zero-percent financing, rebates as high as $3000 on some models, and dealer incentives - an unusual move for Toyota who resists discounting to protect the resale value of their vehicles. A Texas dealer, and president of the Toyota National Dealers' Council, Paul Atkinson, says bargain-hunting customers do not seem concerned by Toyota recalls. "Honestly, I think the public has had enough," he said.