With most of the financial world transfixed on the Paulson plan band-aid, in the real world the largest global industry is falling apart. Here is the latest sales data for September...

Regards - VHF

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• Ford Motor posted a 34% drop. Their truck and van sales fell 39%, SUV sales plummeted 57% and F-series truck sales dropped 42%.

• Honda reported a 24% decline in sales;

• Toyota U.S. Sept. sales drop 32.3%, light truck sales dropped 38%

• Lexus sales -- Toyota's luxury nameplate -- fell 37.7%;

• Chrysler U.S. September sales fall 33%

• Volvo sales slumped 51.8%;

• Porsche tumbled 45%;

• General Motors sales down 15.6% (better than the expectations of -26%)

• Nissan Sales down 37%

• BMW U.S. sales dropped 25.8%

• Mercedes-Benz reported sales off -16.4%

• Volkswagen sales for September fell 9.4%;

• Hyundai Motor's U.S. sales fell 25%;

• Kia U.S. sales slide 27.8%

• Audi U.S. sales are down 5.4% (but they are a low volume marquee, selling 7, 584 units, vs small Korean mfr KIA, which sold 17,383)

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U.S. dealership closures to increase into '09: study

Wed Oct 1, 2008 5:54pm EDT

DETROIT (Reuters) - The number of U.S. car dealerships closing is expected to increase into 2009 with as many as 3,800 dealerships at risk of closure because of dwindling sales and tighter credit, according to a newly released study by Grant Thornton LLP on Wednesday.

With U.S. light vehicle sales predicted to drop to the 13.7-million-unit range in 2009, the study said that about 18 percent of the total number of U.S. car dealerships would need to close to maintain sales per dealer at last year's level of about 750 units.

"An increasing number of dealers are simply closing their doors because sales have plummeted, credit has dried up, the overall retail environment is increasingly challenging and potential investors are sitting on the sidelines," said Paul Melville, a partner with Grant Thornton LLP.

"In addition, the domestic automakers who badly need retail consolidation are not spending much of their scarce capital on the problem because the economy is doing it for them," he said.

Bill Heard Enterprises Inc, one of the biggest General Motors Corp Chevrolet dealerships, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, citing operating losses, decreased demand for vehicles and lack of credit.

At its peak, Alabama-based Heard's revenue was about $2.5 billion per year, according to the bankruptcy filing.

U.S. vehicle sales are expected to be flat next year with any recovery in demand expected only in 2010, as consumers struggle with tight credit, high gasoline prices and a housing market slump.

The drop in demand has been particularly hard for Detroit-based automakers GM, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC. GM's sales were down 18.5 percent in the first eight months of 2008 while Ford's sales declined 16 percent and sales at Chrysler, controlled by Cerberus Capital Management, dropped 24 percent.

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