Yet again, the three US car giants General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have all reported sharp falls in sales.

General Motors saw sales fall 18% in November, Ford's sales fell 21% and Chrysler's sales were down 12%.

But although the sales falls were large, they were much smaller than October's sales slump, and sales picked up towards the end of the month.

"The first half of the month was extremely difficult," said Chrysler sales executive Gary Dilts. "But it finally turned positive and we saw a significant shift".

"Our sales remain generally healthy," said General Motors sales and marketing executive Bill Lovejoy.

Shares hit

But despite the car makers' predictions of stronger sales ahead, financial market officials were less optimistic.

"We foresee December to be maybe stable, but it's not going to be a barnburner," said analyst Mike Wall.

Consequently, all the three car giants saw their shares fall sharply.

Ford's shares fell 13%, Chrysler's parent DaimlerChrysler fell 5.1% and General Motors fell 5.1%.

Incentives

The US car makers are clearly suffering, though direct comparisons with last year's sales are complicated.

Sales at the time were boosted by zero interest finance for car buyers, on offer as the car makers struggled to prevent a sales slump in the wake of the 11 September attacks.

Such finance deals kept fuelling sales well into the summer when they were much higher than they had been during the summer of 2001.

"Comparisons to a very strong year-ago November are difficult," said Mr Lovejoy.

Weak 'light truck' sales

Sales of four-wheel-drive vehicles, also known as 'light trucks' or sports utility vehicles, fell particularly far during November.

This was a reflection of these vehicles' falling popularity in the US where the American people have been taken by storm by accusations that 'light trucks' are antisocial vehicles.

General Motors said its light truck sales fell 26.2% in November while its car sales fell just 6%. Chrysler's light truck sales fell 12.6% while car sales were down 9%. Ford's light truck sales fell 18.5%.

Asian car makers suffered a 5% fall in sales in November while sales of European models were similar to last year's.