Grim car sales

Everyone knew the October numbers would be bad, but would you believe GM sales plunged 45 percent from a year earlier? Accounting for population growth, that's the worst month of the post-World War II period. "Clearly we're in a very dire situation," said Mike DiGiovanni, GM's executive director of global market and industry analysis. Ford was down 30 percent, Toyota 23 percent, Honda 29 percent, Nissan 33 percent, and Hyundai 31 percent. Chrysler reports this afternoon. (AP)