Published on Monday, November 03, 2008
By Daily Breeze Staff Writer
DETROIT - General Motors' October U.S. sales plunged 45 percent, and Ford's and Chrysler's weren't far behind, as low consumer confidence and tight credit combined to bring the industry's sales to an "unsustainably weak level" that is the worst in 25 years.
Automakers sold 838,156 vehicles in October, 32 percent fewer than the same month last year and the worst performance since January 1991, according to Autodata Corp. and Ward's AutoInfoBank. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 10.6million vehicles was the lowest since February 1983.
"It's really an unsustainably weak level for all manufacturers," said Mike DiGiovanni, GM's executive director of global market and industry analysis. "This is clearly a severe, severe recession for the U.S. automotive industry and something we really can't sustain."
The annual sales rate in October 2007 was 16.1 million.
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