Coronavirus pandemic causes drastic declines in U.S. auto sales in April

The coronavirus pandemic caused drastic declines in U.S. auto sales in April, according to industry data released Friday.

Automakers such as Toyota Motor and Honda Motor reported sales last month were cut in half compared with April 2019, as dealerships across the country were forced to limit or close showrooms and consumers stayed away due to stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders.

Toyota and Honda led the declines with sales plummeting about 54% each last month. Hyundai Motor reported a 39 percent drop in its U.S. sales, while sister company Kia Motors reported a 38.3% decline compared with a year ago. Mazda Motor said sales declined 44.5% for the month. Subaru reported sales slid 46.6 percent.

AutoData, which crunches monthly auto sales, says the pace of auto sales in April, at 8.6 million vehicles, was the lowest monthly sales rate since the firm started calculating the data in 1980