US auto sales in Feb

US auto sales extended their downward spiral in February, falling 41 percent to the lowest rate since December 1981 amid a deepening economic crisis, industry data showed Tuesday.Total US light vehicle sales came in at 688,909 units in February, which translates into a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 9.12 million vehicles compared with a rate of 15.36 million in February 2008, according to Autodata. GM posted the sharpest year-on-year decline among major automakers, with sales down 53 percent to 127,296 vehicles in February and its market share down to 18.2 percent from 22.7 percent a year earlier. Ford, which has said it has sufficient cash reserves to survive the downturn without government aid, saw sales plummet by 48 percent to 96,044 vehicles in February and its market share slip to 13.9 percent from 15.7 in February 2008.It announced plans to slash second quarter production by nearly 40 percent to 425,000 vehicles from 685,000 vehicles in the second quarter of 2008.Chrysler, which recently asked the US Treasury for another five billion dollars in loans to supplement the four billion it received in January, also posted sharp losses on a year-over-year comparison -- down 44 at 84,050 vehicles.The Japanese automaker reported its sales fell 37 percent on a year-over-year comparison to 109,583 vehicles but said it would not need to make any more significant production cuts at its US facilities on top of those made earlier this year