A tumbling US economy hit Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, and Toyota today as all four posted declining sales for last month, Bloomberg reports. Chrysler fell 14% as Ford dropped nearly 7% and GM suffered almost a 20% drop in light truck sales. "Primarily it's driven by the weak economy,'' one analyst said. "It's been difficult for people to refinance and get credit.''
Toyota, second in US car sales after GM, fell for the second consecutive month and sixth in eight. Honda, Nissan, Mercedes, and Volkswagon sales rose from last year, however, confirming predictions that foreign carmakers will suffer less than domestic ones. (More auto industry stories.)