Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Nissan Motor Co. posted quarterly financial results that trailed analysts' estimates as the slumping U.S. auto market spread pain across three continents.

GM's $15.5 billion loss was the third-worst in the 100-year history of the biggest U.S. automaker. Tokyo-based Nissan's net income plunged 43 percent, while earnings at Munich-based BMW slid by a third. Shares of all three companies fell.

``A recovery in the North American market looks far off,'' said Yuuki Sakurai, a Tokyo-based general manager at Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance Co., which manages about $54 billion.

Today's results showed how the weakest U.S. auto demand since 1993 is affecting automakers that produce a variety of vehicles, from the trucks that dominate GM's offerings to the luxury models produced by BMW to the cars built by Nissan.

U.S. industrywide sales fell 12 percent last quarter. Executives have said that slide may worsen during the rest of the year and that a recovery may not occur until 2010.

GM declined 84 cents, or 7.6 percent, to $10.23 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. BMW fell 1.43 euros, or 4.9 percent, to 27.53 euros in Frankfurt. Nissan's American depositary receipts lost 91 cents, or 5.9 percent, to $14.40 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, the lowest since April 2003.

GM's Decline

The worst news was reported by GM. North American revenue dropped by a third in the second quarter, and the loss pushed the automaker's collective deficit to $69.8 billion since 2004.

The results included $9.1 billion in expenses GM considers one-time items. Even without those costs, Detroit-based GM's per-share loss was four times larger than analysts projected.

``The problem with GM's turnaround program is it's been going on for years now,'' Erich Merkle, an analyst with consulting firm Crowe Chizek & Co. in Chicago, told Bloomberg Television.

BMW's second-quarter profit tumbled 33 percent to 507 million euros ($790 million). Chief Executive Officer Norbert Reithofer plans to ship cars built for the U.S. to other markets after the automaker said sales ``deteriorated sharply over the past weeks.'' First-half U.S. sales of BMW-brand vehicles plunged 9 percent.

BMW Forecast Abandoned

The world's largest luxury-car maker abandoned its full- year profit forecast and predicted ``another difficult year'' in 2009. BMW's Americas region accounted for 23 percent of 2007 revenue.

``The weakness of the U.S. market is a serious issue for BMW,'' Standard & Poor's said today as it reduced its outlook on the automaker to ``negative'' from ``stable.'' That shift means a downgrade is more likely for BMW's debt, which is now rated of A+, S&P's fifth-highest level.

June's U.S. annual industrywide sales rate was 13.6 million, the lowest in 15 years, and demand in July probably matched that level, according to a Bloomberg survey of 40 analysts and economists. Automakers are reporting July data today.

Nissan said net income for its fiscal first quarter declined to 52.8 billion yen ($492 million) from 92.3 billion yen a year earlier.

Japan's third-largest automaker cut the estimated resale value of leased vehicles in the U.S. by 42 billion yen as gasoline near $4 a gallon and a slumping U.S. housing market eroded demand for trucks and SUVs. Light trucks averaged about 40 percent of Nissan's monthly U.S. sales in 2007.

U.S. sales rose 8.5 percent in July, the fourth monthly gain this year, Nissan said today.

Nissan is offering buyouts of as much as $125,000 to about 6,600 workers at two plants in Tennessee in response to falling truck sales. First-half sales of Tennessee-built Pathfinder and Xterra SUVs dropped 44 percent and 41 percent, respectively.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Koenig in Southfield Michigan, at wkoenig@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 1, 2008 16:26 EDT