Auto industry troubles continue

There was some good news released today and the markets responded.  The National Association of Realtors announced that the index of pending home resales increased 6.3 percent.  I personally believe that this will be a short lived spike with the DOW and S&P 500 both dropping below 8000 and 810 respectively.  I believe we will soon see massive credit card defaults which will lead to the second phase of this recession.  

In any event, below is an interesting chart comparing January auto sales in 2008 verse 2009.  The numbers are staggering.  There are only 3 brands with positive growth, Hyundai, Kia and Subaru.  It's a sign of the time that only 1 comes from an American company.  I tried to narrow down the list but I couldn't decide what to remove.  Every car brand is a recognizable, well established brand.  

Car Sales Comparison '08 vs. '09
Brand	Vol. % Change		Total Sales 1/09	Total Sales 1/08
Acura	-30%		7,856	11,168
Audi	-26%		4,722	6,418
BMW	-16%		12,232	14,475
Buick	-45%		6,969	12,749
Cadillac	-43%		8,499	14,792
Chevrolet	-48%		77,186	149,548
Chrysler	-69%		10,685	34,372
Dodge	-50%		34,638	69,884
Ford	-40%		79,322	131,074
GMC	-41%		19,120	32,270
Honda	-28%		63,175	87,343
HUMMER	-60%		1,222	3,050
Hyundai	14%		24,512	21,452
Infiniti	-18%		7,115	8,644
Jeep	-49%		16,834	33,136
Kia	4%		22,096	21,355
Lexus	-28%		14,722	20,299
Lincoln	-24%		6,091	7,985
Mazda	-27%		15,420	21,212
Mercedes	-43%		10,433	18,275
Mercury	-44%		5,183	9,296
MINI	-15%		2,082	2,460
Mitsubishi	-35%		4,730	7,226
Nissan	-31%		46,769	67,961
Pontiac	-61%		9,104	23,025
Porsche	-36%		1,658	2,595
Saab	-46%		955	1,772
Saturn	-60%		6,172	15,359
Subaru	8%		12,194	11,289
Suzuki	-49%		3,655	7,120
Toyota	-32%		102,565	151,550
VW	-12%		12,744	14,412
Volvo	-64%		2,910	8,036
COMPANIES
BMW Group		-16%	14,314	16,935
Chrysler LLC		-55%	62,157	137,392
FoMoCo		-40%	93,506	156,391
General Motors		-49%	129,227	252,565
Honda America		-28%	71,031	98,511
Nissan NA		-30%	53,884	76,605
Toyota Mo Co		-32%	117,287	171849