Ford, General Motors, Toyota and Honda reported U.S. sales drops of more than 30 percent in November as a staggering U.S. economy dragged industrywide demand to the lowest level in 26 years.

Every automaker posted a decline as sales fell 36.7 percent from year-earlier levels. Ford Motor Co. slid for a 12th consecutive month. GM plunged more than 40 percent for the second straight month. Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. was down for the 11th time in the past year, and American Honda Motor Co.'s fall was its steepest for 2008.

The seasonally adjusted sales total of 10.3 million was the lowest since October 1982, when the U.S. economy last contracted as severely as it is now. The industry's sales total of 747,544 was the lowest monthly figure in at least two decades.  read more »

Despite tight-as-a-tick credit markets, Cerberus Capital Management is in talks with Daimler Benz to acquire the 19.9% of Chrysler LLC it doesnt already own. Cerberus bought its controlling stake in Chrysler in 2007. Since then, sales at the automaker have precipitously dropped, auto industry sales on the whole have slipped to levels not seen since the 1980s and the forecast for sales and the U.S. economy next year is at least as bleak as this year. Maybe it is a time to buy. This statement from Cerberus: Cerberus confirms that it has approached Daimler about the possible redemption of its 19.9 percent stake in Chrysler. We are currently in discussions. In the event of a successful transaction, all existing industrial relationships between Daimler and Chrysler would continue. There are two big reasons for Cerberus to buy the remainder of Chrysler: First, the price will probably never be lower from Daimler, which would like to have the automaker completely off its books. Second, a potential buyer for Chrysler (Renault-Nissan or even a Chinese auto maker), would rather not have Daimler muddying up any negotiations. By buying the rest of Chrysler, there would be less pressure on Cerberus to offer any financial guidance to the marketplace about revenues or earnings. Because Daimler is publicly traded, the German automaker has to report the progress of its stake in Chrysler. Each quarter and at the end of the year, analysts and media are left to extrapolate those numbers for all of Chrysler. Daimler-Benz acquired Chrysler in 1998, but endured nearly a decade of heavy losses and distraction before selling it off to Cerberus last year. Chrysler is in two major deals with Nissan: one that has Chrysler supplying Nissan with a version of its Ram truck that Nissan dealers can sell in a few years; and one in which Nissan will supply to Chrysler a small car based on its Versa subcompact. Sources inside Chrysler, as well as outsiders who are close to management, have said in recent weeks that they would put the chances of an acqusition of Chrysler above 50%. Several point to Renault-Nissan as a logical acquirer, or the automaker most likely to take a large equity stake.  read more »

Audi AG, Volkswagen AG's luxury auto unit, said it will introduce a diesel sport-utility vehicle in Japan by 2010, its first in the country, joining Daimler AG and Nissan Motor Co. in offering the more fuel efficient models.

Audi will sell a diesel version of its Q7 SUV in Japan, Ingolstadt, Germany-based Audi said today in a statement.

The announcement follows the introduction last week by Nissan Motor Co. of a diesel-powered X-Trail SUV, its first diesel car in Japan in five years. Diesels accounted for just 0.1 percent of new car sales in Japan last year.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. plans to reintroduce a diesel version of its Pajero SUV next month, its first in four years, and Honda Motor Co. will follow next year.  read more »

Sitting with Carlos Ghosn, CEO of both Renault and Nissan, this week at our offices, I became pretty sure I was looking at the future CEO of Chrysler.

He told us that the deals to supply Chrysler with a Versa and to have Chrysler build Nissan's Titans are deals that stand alone. And they are.

Ghosn also said that this is a time where the markets wouldn't like to try and absorb a big deal like Renault-Nissan taking on Chrysler. I don't know about that. Deals are still cooking in other industries. Ghosn still wants a North American alliance partner. I don't ever see it being Ford. And GM was a non-starter. Unless he is eyeballing Tesla or Shelby, Chrysler is it.

What seems pretty clear is that Chrysler LLC owner Cerberus Capital would love love love to off-load the automaker for more than it has put in, even if it's $5.00. Center for Automotive Research chsirman David Cole told me this week that, "Cerberus doesn't have a lot of time with this thing."  read more »

Y'all are getting testy! There is some serious cat fighting taking place in this morning's part 3. Early on, both the Buick GSX and the Charger/Challenger were in real danger of getting the knife. And why not? Muscle cars -- while very cool -- have been fetishized (and priced) to the point of irrelevance. Their OG MO was that they provided cheap power to the common man. Now they represent investment opportunities. Can I get a yawn?  read more »

21 cars down, 20 more to go! Be sure to check out yesterday's part 1 and part 2. Maybe you can sneak in a couple of late votes. Not that it would matter much at this point. So, what did we learn? I'm a bit shocked to find the Garage's Roller is so passionately reviled and hated. I guess lotsa folks just don't have four-doored fantasies. And it looks like the RUF RT12 is toast. As for today, get ready for a slug fest. I could announce the cars right here, but that would kill the surprise. And we like surprises.  read more »

Well sir, looks like the RUF is taking it on the chin. But hey, as we've seen, the RUF always takes it on the chin and then a much more fantastic car gets voted out (I cry for you, Exelero). Still, I'm hopeful. And we're losing two of our residents this week, so lots more action ahead!  read more »

Man, talk about oversights. Last week you wonderful people inducted the gorgeous-is-an-understatement BMW 507. And that means we now have 41 cars in our Fantasy Garage. As you know, whenever we hit a nice, round number like 40, it's time to dump a car. We should of done so last week, but last week was a rough one. So, we'll taking out the trash (so to speak) this week. Where to even start? Yeah, I have no idea, either. So, like we done did before, let's just commence with the voting and see where that takes us. Who knows, maybe we'll even kill two birds...  read more »

Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz Luxury-Car Unit expects its double U.S. Diesel car sales if they can introduce diesel to all stats of U.S., meeting the emission regulation as California taking , that is the country's toughest standard. Mercedes had announced to start marketing cars and sport-utility vehicles with Bluetec diesel motors that comply with standards in California three months ago by Ernst Lieb, the unit's chief executive officer for the U.S. When we're able to have diesel in all states w  read more »