With the credit freeze, and people scared of loosing their savings accounts, car sales have dropped drastically in the last month. Although most companies saw sales drop by as much as 30% in September, according to AugoblogGreen, “U.S., General Motors actually did better than many companies with only a 15.8 percent drop in September compared to last year. There were even some bright spots in the numbers with the Malibu being up 192 percent and the Vibe jumping 91.1 percent. GM's hybrid models are also continuing to gain ground with 1,957 units moved during the month. The combined total of Tahoe and Yukon Two-Mode Hybrids topped 1,000 for the first time and the Malibu and Vue mild hybrids held steady at 382 and 443 respectively. The new Escalade hybrid still hasn't climbed into triple digits and the Saturn Aura still doesn't seem to be more than an afterthought with 31 sales. All together, GM has sold 9,053 hybrids through nine months.”
Although General Motors does have impressive numbers, according to CanadianDriver.com, “ales of hybrids in the U.S. in September dropped 8.9 per cent to 20,836 units when compared to September 2007, the lowest September sales volume since 2005, according to a report by the Green Car Congress. Overall sales of light-duty vehicles in the U.S. in September dropped 26.6 per cent year-on-year; hybrids accounted for 2.2 per cent of the new vehicle market share for the month.
