Despite the softening economy and rising gas prices, sales of new cars and trucks remain remarkably robust both nationally and in West

Virginia, according to the Charleston Gazette.

A survey this week of some of West Virginia's leading auto dealers generally found solid sales to be the norm, though doubts were expressed in some quarters on whether last year's hot sales pace could be repeated

in 2003, the Gazette said.

Nationally, most auto industry analysts are predicting sales in the neighborhood of 16.5 million new cars and trucks this year, down

from 16.8-million in 2002, but still strong by any historical measure. "Last year was the fourth best year in history and what's amazing is that follows on the heels of the three best years in history," said Paul Taylor, chief economist at the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) in McLean, Va.

But Taylor cites one crucial caveat for the short-term: the possibility of war with Iraq. If that happens, it would lop off about 200,000 units for the year and lower '03 sales to around the 16.3 million mark, according to the NADA economist.

As the West Virginia International Auto Show gets set to open Jan. 17, many dealers in the

state are surprisingly upbeat on the sales outlook this year, the Gazette reported.