document: Disaster takes toll on auto , department store sales in March TOKYO -LRB- Kyodo -RRB- - The devastating March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami took a toll on sales of new motor vehicles and merchandise at major department stores , according to data released Friday . Sales of new vehicles including minivehicles in Japan totaled 437,599 units in March , down 35.1 percent from a year earlier and marking the sharpest percentage point fall on record for the month due to the disaster that devastated northeastern and eastern Japan , industry bodies said . The percentage decline , the biggest since auto sales data began to be compiled in 1968 , beat the previous record fall of 33.3 percent in March 1974 , according to the Japan Automobile Dealers Association and the Japan Mini Vehicles Association . Japan 's worst-ever disaster forced automakers to temporarily suspend production and discouraged consumers from shopping even in areas that were not affected by it . Isetan Co. , a major department store under the wing of Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. , said sales in March plunged 23.5 percent from a year earlier . Mitsukoshi Ltd. , which also belongs to the holding company , reported a year-on-year drop of 22.8 percent in sales for the month . Takashimaya Co. suffered a sales decline of 16.8 percent , while J. Front Retailing Co. , which has Daimaru and Matsuzakaya department stores under its umbrella , incurred a drop of 9.6 percent . The automobile dealers association said pre-quake inventories were running out and sales in April may therefore be lower than March . The industry body expressed hope for carmakers to resume full-scale production promptly . In March , sales of new cars , other than minivehicles with engine displacements of up to 660 cc , plunged 37.0 percent to 279,389 units for the all-time sharpest percentage point decline and the seventh straight month of fall . Sales fell short of 300,000 units for the first time in 37 years . Sales of minivehicles dived 31.6 percent to 158,210 units for the second sharpest percentage point fall and the sixth straight month of decline . In fiscal 2010 ended Thursday , new car sales , including those of minivehicles , totaled 4,601,136 units , down 5.7 percent from the previous year in the first yearly contraction in two years .
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