October Auto Sales

Crumple, particularly for GM and Ford:

General Motors, Ford and Nissan reported big declines Tuesday, while Toyota's U.S. sales edged up slightly, Honda's sales rose and DaimlerChrysler's sales were flat. Sport utility vehicles took the biggest hit across all makers. Sales of the Ford Explorer, Lincoln Navigator, GMC Yukon, Hummer H2 and Toyota Land Cruiser were all down 50 percent or more.

General Motors Corp., the world's biggest automaker, said its U.S. sales fell 22.7 percent in October from a year ago, led by a 30.3 percent decline in sales of trucks and SUVs. GM's car sales fell 10.6 percent for the month. Overall, GM's sales fell 2.7 percent for the first 10 months of the year.

Paul Ballew, GM's executive director of market and industry analysis, said it was the industry's worst month since 1998. But he said October must be viewed in the context of the summer sales blitz, which was fueled by U.S. automakers' employee-discount incentives. This year is still on track to be the second or third best in history for U.S. auto sales, Ballew said.