Well, you knew it was going be ugly. This one’s Medusa class. January sales fell 54.8 percent vs. last January, from 137,392 to 62,157 vehicles. Breaking that into bits, car sales sank 66 percent (15,747) while trucks tumbled 49 percent to (46,410). Chrysler fingered two culprits. First up, fleet sales. Believe it or not, the company claimed credit for the 81 percent fall from their “normal” fleet sales total. Apparently, the drop “aligned with the Company’s sales strategy helping to maintain or improve the overall residual value of Chrysler vehicles for our customers.” Second, tight credit.

“Chrysler LLC received the first $4 billion installment of our $7 billion bridge loan from the U.S. Treasury in early January,” said Jim Press, President and Vice Chairman – Chrysler LLC. “However, it wasn’t until later in the month that Chrysler Financial received its $1.5 billion loan, greatly enhancing its ability to support our dealers and provide credit to our customers. We were very encouraged and working closely with Chrysler Financial, were immediately able to introduce our zero percent financing for customers.”

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Ok, 48.8 percent, actually. Or, as GM’s Mark LaNeve puts it in the company press release, “We’re attacking this unprecedented market as aggressively as possible, while offering more vehicles than ever that provide great value and that Americans enjoy owning. Our retail market share is a bright spot, holding steady above 21 percent for the second month in a row. That’s a full point above the trailing 12-month average. It’s important to realize that we accomplished this retail performance as the overall market ran about 6 million vehicles behind where it was last January (on a seasonally-adjusted annual rate) and every manufacturer was deeply impacted.” And that’s about as positive as it gets, folks.

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North Dakota’s House of Representatives has voted down a measure which would have exempted the sale or lease of a Detroit-branded vehicle from the state’s five percent excise sales tax. The Chicago Tribune reports that the measure, which would have cost the state $25.9m, was defeated by a convincing 64-29 vote. “If we do anything as far as tax exemptions, we should have a greater good in mind,” says Rep. Jon Nelson, R-Rugby. “The passage of this bill . . . we don’t expect anything from (the Detroit auto companies), except that they’re going to sell more of the same old, same old. . . . Every technology in the world has grown, doubled or tripled or quadrupled, in the last 20 years, but the pickup I drive gets the same mileage as one 30 years ago,” he said. “Things like that . . . they haven’t progressed, and that is the reason that U.S. auto makers are in . . . the shape they’re in.”

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Toyota sold 117,287 vehicles this January, falling 34.4 percent compared to January 2008. Losses were split relatively evenly between the Toyota/Scion division (down 34.9 percent) and Lexus brand (down 30.3 percent). Toyota doesn’t break out Scion brand sales for its press release, but all of its models are down between 41.8 percent (xD) and 59.5 percent (tC). Corolla (down 10.8 percent), Lexus RX (down 7.2 percent) and FJ Cruiser (down 18.7 percent) were the best performers in the ToMoCo lineup. Elswhere, sales drops by model were as bad as 67.2 Percent (Land Cruiser), 61.6 percent (Lexus SC) and 63.6 percent (Lexus GX). Hybrid sales hit 11,876 in January.

Car and Driver scoops the inside poop on the latest über-Golf headed to The Land of the Free. According the Csere-free buff book, the Golf R will offer the GTI’s four cylinder engine tuned to “an impressive” 270 hp with all wheel-drive to tame all those ponies. The R’s lighter, cheaper 2.0-liter turbo four may help the new top spec Golf sell more prolifically than the last top shelf Golf, which featured a heavier and more expensive 3.2-liter six, clocking in at $32,990 (msrp). Well, it couldn’t do any worse; you can still buy new ’07s. Car and Driver reckons VW will call the new car an R20 Turbo. As always, we reckon it all comes down to price/performance. The GTI is a stunner. The R20T would have to offer significantly better thrust and handling for a reasonable premium to make it. What are the odds? Meanwhile, if you haven’t driven the original R32, you should. Oh, yes.

But wait, I thought Fusion Hybrid buyers cross-shopped Camry Hybrid, not Prius. No? Oh well, even free PR has its price.

Think about it. That’s AFTER the U.S. Treasury Department “invested” $6b of your hard-earned tax dollars into the failing auto and mortgage finance company. “Auto sales are in freefall,” Fifth Third Asset’s Mirko Mikelic told Bloomberg. The Michigan money manager (whose company holds a big chunk of GMAC debt) says the bailout “may keep them around at least until they need to restructure.” Confused. May . . . at least . . . until? Bottom line: GMAC’s Q4 new vehicle financing fell from last year’s $13.4b to ’08’s $2.7b. Despite Uncle Sam’s cash infusion and fire sale pricing and lowered FICO score loan eligibility, what’s the bet that the needle doesn’t budge on that number? Meanwhile, Rescap, GMAC’s mortgage unit, famous for its easy credit home loans, is also dying a death. On this subject, Mr. Mikelic leaves the sugar coating on the shelf. “Their mortgage business is basically closed.” With house sales going nowhere slowly, GMAC has a new strategy, related to their free pass bank status.

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Automotive News [sub] reports that US-market sales of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury-branded vehicles fell 39 percent in January, to 90,131. “Retail demand appears to have stabilized,” Ford sales analyst George Pipas told AN before those numbers were announced “Regrettably, but understandably, it stabilized at a low rate. But before you can begin to improve, things have to bottom out.” And have they ever. Ford’s press release is a roiling sea of not good, with Volvo down 64 percent, Mercury down 44 percent, Lincoln Down 23.7 percent and the Ford brand 39.5 percent versus January 2008. Fusion was the only significant seller that dropped less than 20 percent (Volvo V50 was down only 16.6 percent with a big 136 models sold, and the Towncar is up 147 percent at 510 units sold).

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Despite looking at a half-sized Q1 production plan, GM says it will bump truck production in the month of March. Production will be restored and escalated in March at GM’s Flint and Arlington truck plants, meaning there will be more Silverado, Sierra, Tahoe, Yukon and Escalade models. So, uh, why? “As far as our 2008 and 2009 mix goes, we’re significantly down on 2008 models, where most of our competitors have a lot of 2008 to get rid of. So anticipating a spring selling season, we’d like to increase our 2009 inventory,” GM’s Pete Ternes tells Automotive News [sub]. GM’s truck inventory has dropped noticeably, from a 122-day supply on December 1. But with 90 days of light truck supply, there’s still no real reason to increase production. Most industry-watchers consider a 60-day supply ideal. So what’s up?

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When I called Las Vegas home, massive towers were going up, traffic was bad (especially on the Blue Diamond Highway), tourists were annoying and gas was cheap. Now, leaving Las Vegas, massive towers are going up, traffic is bad, tourists are annoying and gas is—once again—cheap. But it’s always worth saving a few gallons. After all, that $1 could win you the $1m payout at the Luxor’s giant slot machine. It’s thinking that makes both Sin City and the VW Jetta diesel so great.

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It’s the hottest road race of the year. Who are the champs and who are the chumps of the global auto industry? Everybody who’s somebody wants to become a statistic in “world motor vehicle production by manufacturer.” Officially, that race is not over until the fat lady at OICA, the “Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles” or International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, sings. OICA still has the 2007 numbers on their website. Yet, General Motors has already conceded the top post to Toyota. All other manufacturers have already announced their numbers. While OICA is taking their good old time counting, the Nikkei [sub] performed its own tally.

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For most in the German auto business, the Cash-for-Clunkers scheme (€2.5K if you scrap your old and buy a new one) is the savior that rescues Deutschland from eternal CO2-related damnation. Not to mention the fact that dealers are reporting long lines in showrooms. The hottest topic: the money to fund the Abwrackprämie (“wrecking award”) will be gone soon. Germany’s elected representatives only allocated €1.5b for the program—enough for 600K cars or one fifth or Germany’s yearly run rate. If that money gets exhausted anytime soon, turning water into wine will be relegated to cheap stunt status. The media ignores this eventuality, and beats the public into a frenzy. Act fast! Im Windhundverfahren (“greyhound method” a.k.a. first-come-first-serve principle)!

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The ad for the new Mercedes GLK is targeted straight at owners of MB’s ML and GL SUVs. After all, the new GLK gives you the “same innovation in a smaller design.” Same agility. Same suspension. Same luxury. Same depreciation (my add). So, why bother paying more for one of Mercedes’ more much macho trucks? Sure, this baby brother routine hurts the automaker. The Nissan’s Rogue’s Murano-i-cide is but one example where a new, smaller vehicle robbed Peter to pay Paul less. But that’s the way it is. In Bailout Nation’s new era of hunker down austerity, downsizing is almost as fashionable as having a job. Big ticket buyer meets smaller ticket price on the dark side of town. The carmakers must figure that what they lose in profit they’ll recover in volume. Ask GM how well that works. In that sense the Mercedes GLK is a born win – loser. Or is it?

An overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. WAS is being filed from Tokyo this week.

Here they come: China’s SAIC will sell its homegrown cars to Spain, UK, and Israel beginning in 2010, Gasgoo reports. Some of the cars will come directly from SAIC’s assembly plants in Shanghai and Nanjing, while others will come from the company’s UK assembly plants, which SAIC acquired from Rover. The UK will get domesticated Chinese. All cars will comply with EU Euro-5 emission standards.

Germany down 14 percent in January: Not quite 19 percent as feared yesterday, but close. Germany sold 14 percent fewer cars in January 2009 than in January 2007, Automobilwoche [sub] reports. If you are looking for a statistical savior: Adjusted for buying days, the drop is only 8 percent. All eyes on the clunker culling money, €2.5K. It was introduced 1/27, too late to save the first week of the year.

Sania rejects Porsche, Porsche happy: Much to the relief of Porsche, Sweden’s truckmaker, Scania, rejected a bid Porsche had to make after taking over VW, the Wall Street Journal [sub] writes.

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