FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -

Along with its chairman and chief executive officer offering his thoughts on stifled supply because of the disasters in Japan, AutoNation on Monday revealed its March retail new-vehicle unit sales totaled 22,246, marking a 19-percent jump from the same months a year ago.

Retail new vehicle unit sales in March for AutoNation’s operating segments were as follows:

—6,320 for domestic, up 21 percent versus last March.

—12,194 for import, up 19 percent versus last March.

—3,732 for premium luxury, up 13 percent versus last March.

Furthermore, the company indicated its first-quarter retail new-vehicle unit sales shot up 23 percent versus the first quarter of 2010, totaling 54,198 units.

After sharing these sales totals, AutoNation’s Mike Jackson began commentary about the Japanese earthquake’s impact on the auto industry by stating, “We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the victims of the earthquake in Japan.

“Based on current information from the manufacturers, we expect production disruptions will significantly impact product availability from Japanese auto manufacturers in the second and third quarters of 2011,” the AutoNation chairman and CEO continued.

“However, we believe that the auto retail market and underlying consumer demand will continue to recover throughout 2011,” he went on to say. “Our planning assumption for 2011 industry new unit sales remains 12.8 million units, and we believe that we will manage through these production shortfalls.”

While 52 percent of AutoNation’s total new-unit sales in 2010 were produced by Japanese manufacturers, the company pointed out approximately two-thirds of those units were assembled in North America.

“The situation is still developing, and therefore at this time it is difficult to fully predict the impact of the production disruption on the industry and our business,” Jackson concluded.