Vehicle sales in the state improved by 23 percent in the first half of the year when compared to a year ago, the California New Car Dealers Association reported. That pace, however, is expected to slow in the second half to a total of 1.2 million new car and light truck registrations forecast by the association. The Big Three domestic automakers are expected to have about 354,000 of those numbers, an improvement over 2009 but still trailing the 596,000 foreign vehicle registrations. Through June, the best selling models in California were from Japanese or European carmakers save for the sporty compact category in which the Chevrolet Camaro lead the pack with 3,401 registrations. “We have seen the bottom and folks are returning to the showroom” said Tom Hoffman, association Chairman and owner of Puente Hills Chevrolet. “We expect slow but steady growth over the next couple of years.” For the second quarter more than 320,000 new cars and light trucks were registered, a 26 percent increase over the 257,000 registrations from the same period in 2009. Mark R. Madler