While high gas prices and increasingly tight credit have been pummeling most automakers for the past six months, today we find out that nearly every nameplate took a huge hit in sales in September thanks to the current economic climate. As for the Detroit Three, Ford saw the biggest plunge, at 34%, followed closely by Chrysler at 33%. GM, buoyed by a huge Employee Pricing sale, only lost 16% and actually gained in market share.The Detroit Three's losses were somewhat expected, but imports didn't fare any better. Nissan led the pack with sales that were down 37%. Toyota was down 30%, and Honda sank 20%. Korean automaker Hyundai makes a lot of small, efficient cars and had been seeing steady sales all summer, but it was down 25% in September. Luxury automakers also took their lumps, with BMW taking the hardest hit: a 27% drop. Mercedes-Benz was down 16%, and Audi was off 5%. Not a single automotive brand saw a sales increase in September.
Source: Kicking Tires
Original Story: Economic Crisis Hits Auto Industry Hard
This is not actually
This is not actually surprising. people would rather have their cars fix than buy a new one. What's usually quite ok still in the auto industry are those who sell car parts and car accessories.