As consumers staying away from new vehicle purchases due to financial crisis and unavailability of loans vehicle manufacturers are struggling to maintain their sales targets.

U.S. auto sales plunged to a 27 year low in January, down 37% compared to same period last year.

Toyota Motor, world's largest car maker, said January sales slumped 31.8 percent to 117,287 units from 171,849 units in January last year. Last month Toyota surpassed General Motors and became the top selling automaker in the world.

Ford Motor Co. said on Tuesday that its U.S. sales were 40 percent lower in January than a year ago. Last week Ford Motor Company reported a fourth quarter net loss of 5.9 billion U.S. dollars.

General Motors said its sales fell 48.9% to 128,198 light vehicles from 250,926 in January. The car side plunged 57.9% to 43,943 while truck sales lost 42.5% to 84,255.

GM -48.9%
Ford -40%
Chrysler -54.8%
Toyota -31.8%
Mercedes -42.9%
Volvo -63.8%
Porsche -36.1%

This shows that the whole auto industry is struggling to cope up with the current situation as this is the 15th straight month decline in auto sales on an year-on-year basis.