GM, Ford, Toyota plunge more than 39% in Feb.

From Automotive News:
Analyst: 'We are in an automotive depression'

By Chrissie Thompson

Ford, Toyota and General Motors sales plunged more than 39 percent last month in what early reports indicated was the weakest February sales performance in at least 34 years.
GM, which is staying afloat with U.S. loans, dropped 53.1 percent. Ford Motor Co. slid 49.5 percent, while the three biggest Japanese automakers -- Toyota, Honda and Nissan -- were all down more than 37 percent.
"We are in an automotive depression amid 'The Great Recession,' " Standard and Poor's analyst Efraim Levy said in a report. "Shellshocked consumers fearful for their jobs, the value of their homes and stock market assets are wary of making the sizable discretionary purchases of new vehicles."
The results for the five biggest automakers were worse than most analysts' forecasts and reinforced projections that last month's sales tally would be the lowest for any February since at least 1976, the most distant year of available data.
U.S. sales haven't risen since October 2007, in stride with a 15-month recession.