January Auto Sales... 45 Year Low

How low were January sales? According to the FT (hat tip Infectious Greed):

US car sales fell to their lowest level since 1963 in January – and were less than China’s on an annualised basis for the first time – as rental fleets and consumers bought fewer vehicles in spite of steep industry discounts and government efforts to ease lending.

Click for ginormous chart


Hey, it could be worse. According to Auto Blog:

If you think things have been tough for General Motors in America, you should see how bad it's going for them in Japan. Forget pulling out of the Tokyo Motor Show, we're talking a steady sales decline over the past decade that has brought volume to just 2,000 units a year from a high of 50,000 in 1996.

Source: Auto Blog