In the first half of 2008, General Motors and the Ford Motor Co. tallied net losses of more than $27 billion, before the economic crisis that caused the lowest automotive industry sales in a quarter of a century.

Both companies will divulge their third-quarter sales results on Friday, November 7. Analysts at Reuters Estimates expect each to have losses of approximately $2 billion minus one-time items.

Last week the Bush Administration denied funding for the much discussed GM Chrysler merger, leaving both companies in limbo and now looking to a new administration for a more favorable hearing.

In an October note to clients, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jones, quoted by Automotive News wrote, "Auto companies just don't make money in a recession." That now seems to be almost an understatement in the wake of sales figures released for the month of October amounting to a 32 percent industry-wide drop.

For the year the industry decline amounts to 14.6 percent to 11.6 million units sold, 2 million less than in 2007. Ford's share of those sales drops added up to 32 percent, just under GM's own 45.1 percent. These numbers place auto sales in the U.S. at their lowest level since March 1983, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.