James Hamilton

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U.S. auto sales have been dismal for most of this year. And they just took a turn for the worse.

The light truck category, which includes the once-trendy SUVs, continued to lead the retreat, with seasonally unadjusted September sales of light trucks manufactured in North America down 22% from August and down 31% from September 2007.

Data source: Wardsauto.com
dom_trucks_oct_08.gif

Sales of domestic cars, which had been holding up a little better, also fell dramatically, down 19% month to month and 22% year over year.

Data source: Wardsauto.com
dom_cars_oct_08.gif

And imports were also no longer spared, with cars down 23% year over year and trucks down 30%.


Data source: Wardsauto.com
imp_cars_oct_08.gif


Data source: Wardsauto.com
imp_trucks_oct_08.gif

All of which is consistent with the view that the U.S. economy has been in recession and took a sharp turn for the worse last month.

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