U.S. auto sales hit 16-year low

Special Report:Global Financial

Crisis

Auto mechanic Paul Cook works on a customer's Ford Escape SUV in the service department of a Ford car dealership in Warren, Michigan Dec. 18, 2008. (Chinese media/Reuters Photo)
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CHICAGO, Jan. 5 (Chinese media) -- U.S. major auto makers

all experienced a sales decline of at least 30 percent in the country in

December, capping its worst year since 1992, reports from Detroit revealed on

Monday.

The auto companies' sales are reeling from tough

economic times, spurred by the Wall Street meltdown, the subsequent tightening

of the credit market and consumers moving from larger vehicles to more

fuel-efficient, smaller ones.

Compared with November, General Motors Corp. reported

December sales dropped 31 percent; Ford Motor Co. reported a drop of 32 percent;

Chrysler LLC reported sales plummeted 53 percent.

Honda Motor Co, Nissan North America and Toyota Motor

Co reported 34 percent, 30 percent and 37 percent drop in sales respectively.

The market on the whole shrunk during 2008, allowing

Ford to gain market share for the last three months, which the company has not

achieved for more than a decade.

Honda Motor Co., while having a bad December,

weathered the market better than other carmakers. The company reported sales in

2008 only fell 8.2 percent compared with 2007.

Toyota reported its 2008 sales fell 16 percent. The

Japanese automaker sold more than 240,000 hybrids in the United States during

the year.

Consulting firm IHS Global Insight predicts that U.S.

auto sales will drop to 10.3 million this year as the economy continues to

deteriorate.