American Autos Lose More Money

A sense of trepidation was certainly felt at automotive facilities across North America this week as the second-quarter numbers for both General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM) (Detroit, Michigan) and Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) (Dearborn, Michigan) were announced. Combined, the two automotive giants lost more than $24 billion during the second quarter of 2008, not a good sign for an industry that has been struggling for over a year to deal with a rapidly changing marketplace. Foreign automakers have been chipping away at American market share for years. Even without the rising oil and gas prices that have rocked the industry in 2008, Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America (NYSE:TM) (Torrance, California) was poised to take firm control of the No. 1 position by year's end, regardless of how the American automakers performed. However, even the mighty Toyota has seen sales dip in recent months.