Auto sales put on the brakes

(From the latimes.com) Wall Street is starting to talk about a worse year for car sales than analysts had anticipated, but automakers and suppliers may be better prepared to handle falling expectations than they were last year.

Consumers had flocked to bargain events early this year, even for discounts at beleaguered Toyota Motor Corp., where massive recalls have raised quality control issues. But fewer shoppers are showing up at dealerships now and the previously fast pace of fleet sales is starting to tail off, said industry analyst Brian Johnson of Barclays Capital.

Originally, the consensus among auto industry analysts was that 11.9 million vehicles would be sold in the U.S. this year, according to Barclays. Now Barclays believes sales will settle to 11.2 million.

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