Sales of cars and light trucks in America are suffering according to the latest figures.

Reports from Automotive news revealed that sales fell by 4.1 per cent in March in line with the trend for the rest of the year so far.

For the first three months of the year, car and light truck sales are down 4.4 per cent from 2002.

Industry analysts now say they expect March sales to come in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of between 15.2 million and 15.7 million vehicles.

That would be down from a 16.7 million level in March 2002 reflecting many analysts' fears of a slow down in the wake of the conflict in Iraq.

Nevertheless, with the current decline comparing favourably to the impact of previous Gulf War and also the immediate aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks, some commentators believe the effects will not be as debilitating as first feared.