By Kevin Krolicki
DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp
GM's sales dropped 23 percent for all of 2008, a year marked by the sharpest decline in industry-wide U.S. auto sales since 1974 when the industry was reeling from the impact of the first oil shock.
On an industry-wide basis, U.S. auto sales plunged to about 13.5 million vehicles in 2008, down from near 16.2 million a year earlier, according to preliminary industry data.
The decline in GM sales for December had been anticipated by analysts, and the automaker said it expected to have slightly outperformed the industry at a time when sales have plunged across the board.
As part of a restructuring mandated by the federal bailout, GM has begun talks with its dealers and the United Auto Workers about a sweeping package of additional cost-cutting measures and will report back to U.S. officials on its progress.
But GM sales analyst Mike DiGiovanni said the automaker expected to keep its 2009 sales forecast unchanged at between 10.5 million and 12 million vehicles, marking a further decline from 2008 levels.
For December, GM said it had closed the month stronger than it began after it rolled out a new low-cost financing option in conjunction with a recapitalized GMAC.
GMAC, which has historically financed the bulk of GM vehicle purchases, won approval to operate as a bank from federal regulators and won a $6 billion bailout of its own.
GM, which had warned that it was within days of running short of cash by end December, was given the first $4 billion of bridge loans approved by the Bush administration just before the end of the year.
GM's sales chief, Mark LaNeve, said limited zero-percent financing offers from GMAC and other incentives had helped push the automaker's sales up from depressed November levels.
"Given the ongoing challenges and the difficult market environment, we were very encouraged to see a volume rebound for GM in December compared with both October and November," said LaNeve.
GM said it expected to end 2008 with U.S. market share of just above 22 percent, about five percentage points higher than its nearest competitor, Toyota Motor Corp. <7203.T>
Inventory dropped 4 percent from a year earlier at 872,000 cars and trucks as of end December, GM said.
The sales-adjusted measure of inventory tracked by analysts and industry planners has been rising steadily for GM and its major rivals in recent months, increasing pressure on the automakers to discount heavily.
(Reporting by Kevin Krolicki, editing by Matthew Lewis)
