U.S. Auto Sales Fall In December, Down Big For The Year

January 5, 2009 5:46 p.m. EST

Detroit, MI (AHN) - Many of the major automakers reported Monday large declines in December U.S. auto sales, closing out what has been one of the worst years for the industry in decades.

General Motors reported total 2008 U.S. sales of 2.98 million, its lowest total since 1959, as speculation over the approval of an auto bailout further weighed on weak demand in the final month of 2008.

The automaker saw December U.S. sales fall off 31 percent to 220,030 vehicles.

Ford Motor Co. reported a 32 percent drop in sales for December. The automaker said it sold 138,458 light vehicles for the month, well below the 204,787 sold in the same period last year.

For the year, Ford sales were off 21 percent to 1.98 million. That result will likely place the automaker third in regard to sales volume, behind General Motors and Toyota, who will likely battle for the top automaker spot.

Toyota suffered a steeper sales decline in December than Ford, down roughly 37 percent. However, sales for 2008 were not down as much, falling 16 percent.

Honda Motor also saw December sales drop more than 35 percent. Sales fell 8 percent for the year to 1.43 million vehicles.

2008 marks the first time Toyota and Honda have reported a full year U.S. sales decline since 1995 and 1993, respectively.

Bucking the trend was Subaru; the automaker said U.S. sales for the year ticked up 0.3 percent to 187,699 vehicles, from 187,208 in 2007. Results were lifted by a 36 percent jump in sales of its Forester model compared to a year ago.

Subaru did report a 7.7 percent decline in total sales for December to 17,287 vehicles.

Chrysler LLC is still due to release December and full year U.S. sales results.