Unsurprisingly, things aren't getting better for the Big Three.Yesterday,
GM announced a 2.5-billion net loss for the 3rd quarter of 2008 alone. In the United States, the company sold 828,000 vehicles versus 1,047,000 during the same period in 2007; that's a 21% drop. In October alone, GM sales plunged 45%, and if the current trend continues, it will run out of money before the end of the year.
Chrysler reported a 35% drop in sales in the U.S. in October, and talks with GM about a possible merger have been suspended. GMAC, which is owned by General Motors (49%) and Cerberus Capital (51%), lost 2.5 billion during the 3rd-quarter of 2008.
Ford 's 3rd-quarter results were also scribbled up with red ink, but the blow isn't as hard as GM. A net loss of 129 million has been announced, which is actually a third of what they lost during the same period of 2007. However, sales were down 32% in October.
The three domestic automakers aren't the only ones who saw their sales decline. Actually, no company as a whole reported October sales gains in the United States; the best-performing brands were BMW and the Volkswagen Group (VW, Audi, Bentley), with sales drops of (only) 5% and 6.3%, respectively.What's happening? The financial crisis in the USA right now is badly hurting the economy. Some people are holding off their new-car purchase, and others are unable to get credit from financial institutions in order to lease or finance a vehicle.