U.S. auto retail sales could decline in March as rising inflation hinders spending by customers already limited by slim inventories due to pandemic-led supply shortages, and now the Ukraine crisis, consultants J.D. Power and LMC Automotive said. Supply bottlenecks were showing signs of easing in recent months, but that progress is likely to be stalled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as well as new lockdowns in China following a resurgence in COVID-19 infections. “This year, with fewer than 900,000 units in inventory, it will be impossible for the sale pace to even approach last year’s level,” said Thomas King, president of the data and analytics division at J.D. Powers. U.S. retail sales of new vehicles could fall 27.8 percent to 1,044,500 units in March from a year earlier, according to a report released by the consultants on Wednesday. The consultants expect global vehicle sales in March to suffer from the …