Auto sales totalled 279,389 in March, the seventh-straight monthly decline, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Friday.

The 9.0 magnitude earthquake, Japan's biggest ever recorded, three weeks ago unleashed a tsunami that devastated swathes of the northeast coastline and hit the production of all of Japan's automakers.

The latest data are one of the first indications of how severely the disasters have impacted Japan's economy.

Auto assembly and part manufacturing plants have been shuttered amid power shortages and a lack of components for both domestic and overseas car makers.

Toyota led the falls, with its sales down 46 percent, while Nissan's sales slumped 38 percent and Honda's fell 28 percent.

Most automakers have temporarily shut down a large proportion of their factories, largely due to auto part supply chain disruptions, with power shortages in and around the Tokyo area adding to uncertainty.

None of the major makers suffered serious plant damage from the disaster in Japan's northeast, ratings agency Standard & Poor's noted in a report last week.

Japan's auto giants are largely concentrated in the vast urban and industrial belt between Tokyo, Nagoya and the major western port of Osaka.

Partial damage to some Honda factories and to the Iwate prefecture plant of Toyota subsidiary Kanto Auto Works has been reported, S&P said.

Most Japanese automakers have said they will be unable to return to full operations until around mid-April due to the limited availability of key components and electricity shortfalls.

Auto sales, as measured by registrations of vehicles, are seen as a key indicator of consumer spending sentiment and are among the first data to be released each month in Japan.

The figures do not include sales of mini cars or trucks.

Around 28,000 people are confirmed dead or listed as missing in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami disaster.

Japan last week said the cost of rebuilding after the twin disaster could hit 25 trillion yen ($309 billion), more than double the 1995 Kobe earthquake and nearly four times more than Hurricane Katrina in the United States.

The estimate does not account for wider issues such as how radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which was crippled by the quake, will affect food and water supply, amid an ongoing contamination scare.

earlier related report
General Motors' China sales growth slows sharply
Beijing (AFP) April 2, 2011 - General Motors, the biggest overseas automaker in China, said Saturday its sales growth in the world's largest car market had slowed sharply year-on-year in the first quarter.

The US auto giant said it sold 685,583 vehicles over the first three months of 2011, exactly 10 percent more than during the first three months of 2010.

GM said it sold 233,014 vehicles in China last month, against 230,048 vehicles in March last year, an increase of just 1.3 percent.

The slowdown in market growth, predicted by analysts, is seen as a consequence of the end of incentives offered by the Chinese government during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

"GM had a good month and a solid start to the year despite the expiration of government incentives at the beginning of 2011 and the consequences of the tragic earthquake and tsunami in Japan," said Kevin Wale, president of GM China.

He said the group and its joint ventures in China had been able to meet the supply chain challenges caused by the Japanese disaster.

China's booming market has become increasingly important to GM as demand weakens in the United States. China, where GM's international operations are now based, overtook the United States as the world's biggest auto market in 2009.

GM's sales in China last year increased 28.8 percent year-on-year to an annual record of 2.35 million vehicles, outstripping sales in the United States.

Auto sales in China rose more than 32 percent in 2010 to 18.06 million units, according to the semi-official China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

CAAM forecast sales and production would grow at a steadier pace this year, by 10-15 percent, after purchase taxes for small cars rose to 10 percent and Beijing slashed the number of new registrations allowed in the capital.

GM has several joint ventures in China including Shanghai General Motors, a partnership with China's largest auto maker SAIC Motor.

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