Auto industry trends for 2008 include a drop in the car and light truck market from 16.1 million units sold per year to 14.1 million units (Plunkett Research, Ltd., 2008). The high price of fuel for most of the year has resulted in a demand for hybrid autos that is outpacing the number of hybrids available for sale by a margin of 10:1 and a trend toward smaller cars and Chinese and Indian imports (Winslow, 2008). To address the lagging economy, GM and Ford are offering longer leasing periods, but auto financing is problematic because the SUV leases coming back on the lot are not selling, and most dealerships will not even take them as trade-ins (Winslow, 2008). GM and Ford have seen steadily decreasing market share in 2008 as well as lower car sales; people are keeping their cars longer (Winslow, 2008). Although new materials and technologies are on the way, they will arrive too late to prevent GM and Ford from making bigger cuts (Winslow, 2008).
American consumers are "cowed by the financial crisis" and "pulling back on their spending," a move that a New York Times article predicts is "all but guaranteeing that the economic situation will get worse before it gets better" (Uchitelle, 2008). In addition, the article notes, "Recent figures from companies, and interviews across the country, show that automobile sales are plummeting," as evidenced by auto dealer closures like that of Lattof Chevrolet in Chicago, which has been in business since 1936 (Uchitelle, 2008). The percentage of people expected to buy a car in the next six months has fallen to 5% on a three-month moving average, the lowest figure since 1967 (Uchitelle, 2008). Consumers are not buying SUVs or trucks at all, according to Lattof mechanic Raul Trejo; "We saw it coming," he says (Uchitelle, 2008).
Ford and GM are the two biggest competitors in the U.S. auto i
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