Feb Car Sales at a 27-Year Low

February was definitely not a good month for the automobile industry in America.

It may not surprise anyone that cars aren’t selling well right now, but most Americans may not realize just how bad the situation really is.

The official numbers will be announced later today, but analysts predict that February 2009 sales were at a 27-year low, according to Reuters.

This is down from January sales of just 9.57 million units, which was the lowest number sold since 1982. All of the major auto manufacturers in the United States have cut back on production numbers, and foreign companies like Toyota and Nissan have also seen steep declines in United States sales.

To put things in perspective, there were about 15.3 millions cars and light trucks sold in February 2008. Economists predict that the February 2009 number will be closer to 9.4 million.

Car sales typically account for about 20% of the U.S. retail market. Industry tracker J.D. Power and Associates expects February and March to be low points in the automobile industry, with improvements through the rest of 2009, but the future is still highly volatile.