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By Paul Lienert
DETROIT, April 1 (Reuters) - U.S. consumer demand for new vehicles began to thaw in March, with Detroit automakers reporting mixed sales results on Wednesday.
Ford Motor Co beat analysts' expectations, while General Motors Co fell short and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles was in line with forecasts.
Although there was one less selling day this year, the annualized sales rate in March appeared to be strong at about 16.9 million, GM estimated.
U.S. consumer confidence rebounded sharply in March and beat economists' expectations, according to a report from the Conference Board on Tuesday, as harsh winter weather began to ease across much of the country.
That buoyant sentiment was reflected in higher vehicle transaction prices, according to TrueCar Inc. The online consumer marketplace estimated the average price of a new vehicle in March rose to $32,201, up 2.1 percent from a year earlier.
Industry analyst Kelley Blue Book said strong demand for pickup trucks and utility vehicles continued to drive transaction prices higher.
Fiat said U.S. vehicle sales rose 2 percent in March from the same month a year earlier, to 197,261. Ford's U.S. sales fell 3.4 percent, to 235,929. GM was down 2.4 percent, to 249,875.
FCA said its Jeep and Chrysler brands had double-digit gains, while the Dodge and Fiat brands fell from a year earlier. Ram truck sales were flat.
The Ford and Lincoln brands both were down in March. Sales of the best-selling F-Series pickup dropped nearly 5 percent in March, with the trucks still in short supply as the automaker continued to ramp up production at a second U.S. assembly plant.
At GM, Cadillac and Chevrolet were down, while Buick and GMC were relatively flat. GM reported strong demand for full-size pickups and utility vehicles. Chevrolet Silverado sales were up 7 percent, and Suburban was up 11 percent.
Analysts polled by Reuters estimated automakers sold just over 1.5 million cars in March, slightly below last year's 1,537,288.
Slowed by ferocious winter weather, sales in February were 1,257,619, with seven of the top eight automakers falling short of analysts' expectations.
(Additional reporting by Bernie Woodall and Ben Klayman in Detroit and Joe White in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Meredith Mazzilli)