GM and Ford sales fall in September - no big surprise

The widely forecasted drop in sales for GM and Ford in the month of September is now official. The General has reported a drop off of 24 percent in September while Ford did little better with a fall of 20 percent. The performance of the two largest automakers in the U.S. is in stark contrast to those of its competitors, including Honda, Nissan and Toyota, all of which posted double-digit gains in September. One domestic victory was scored by Chrysler, which reported a rise in sales of four percent last month, despite having participated in the domestics' employee pricing bonanza. Declining SUV and truck sales were the primary factor for September's falter, the most glaring of which were the Ford Expedition and Chevy Suburban, whose sales were off by 60 and 57 percent, respectively.