GM, Ford Drag U.S. Car Sales to 10th Straight Decline

By Mike Ramsey and Alan Ohnsman

Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., the biggest U.S. automakers, dragged the domestic industry to its 10th straight monthly sales decline in August as consumers continued to snub trucks because of gasoline prices.

GM dropped 20 percent and Ford was down 27 percent. Each further pared production plans for the rest of the year. Deliveries at their main Japanese rivals, Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., fell less than 10 percent.

A weak U.S. economy, falling home values and gasoline prices near $4 a gallon combined to drop industrywide sales 16 percent, and analysts said they saw little prospect for relief. Hardest hit have been the pickups and sport-utility vehicles that account for most of the volume at money-losing GM, Ford and Chrysler LLC.

``I don't think we've seen the worst,'' said John Casesa, managing partner of Casesa Shapiro Group in New York, in a Bloomberg television interview. ``This has been a long, dismal story, and macro conditions are as bad as they get for the auto industry.''

GM, Ford Drag U.S. Car Sales to 10th Straight Decline....