U.S. new vehicle sales could fall to the lowest first-quarter volume in the past decade as chip shortages and the Ukraine crisis squeeze inventories and rising prices push less affluent buyers out of the market, research firm Cox Automotive said Monday. U.S. car and light truck sales are expected to fall more than 24 percent to about 1.22 million units in March and decline more than 16 percent in the first quarter. “Make no mistake, this market is stuck in low gear,” said Charlie Chesbrough, senior economist at Cox Automotive, adding that sales will remain at current levels until supply improves. Cox forecasters said the U.S. economy should not experience a recession. But Cox cut its forecast for U.S. car and light truck sales in all of 2022 to 15.3 million vehicles, down 700,000 vehicles from its January outlook. And even hitting the new target will require significant improvement in …