Slow car sales take a toll

New-vehicle sales plunged 43 percent across California in the first quarter from a year earlier as the recession and mounting job losses chilled consumer confidence, according to a report released Wednesday.Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

It's the second consecutive steep quarterly drop - sales fell an annual 39 percent during the fourth quarter of 2008 - and analysts see few signs that the market will rebound this year.

The California Auto Outlook released by the California New Car Dealers Association said 231,726 new vehicles were registered through March 31. At that pace, automakers may be unable to amass 1 million sales this year, the first time that's happened since 1975.