Chrysler, General Motors and Ford confirm big falls in their sales of vehicles in the United States for December.
Chrysler reported on Monday that sales were down by 53% in December and 30% for all of 2008.
General Motors said US sales were down by 31% for the month and 23% for the year.
Ford posted a drop of 32% in domestic sales in December. Total sales for the year were down by 20% to barely 2 million vehicles.
However, Ford estimates that it increased its share of the US market to 14.6% from 13.9% in December of 2007.
General Motors said it expected to a domestic market share of just above 22%, about five percentage points higher than its nearest competitor, Toyota Motor Corp.
The sales figures were the first since the US Treasury extended $US8 billion in loans to General Motors and Chrysler to avoid a cash crunch.
Last year was the worst for the industry since 1974. Total domestic sales about 13.5 million vehicles, down from almost 16.2 million in 2007.
