Sluggish market: Domestic carmakers feel the pinch

Some 3.4 million passenger vehicles were sold in the first quarter of 2012, up about 2 percent compared to the same period in 2011, sluggish growth attributed to a cooling economy and higher gasoline prices nationwide.

Slowing economic growth has affected domestic demand in a range of sectors including property and automobiles. In mid-March the government lowered the country's 2012 GDP target to 7.5 percent, the smallest increase since 1999.

Rising gasoline prices came through a double blow. Prices at the pump were increased twice in the first quarter of the year to bring them to a level 20 percent higher than the average price in the United States.