2006 Auto Sales: As Bad As Expected

Normally, the first few weeks of January are festive ones in Detroit. That's when the U.S. auto industry throws itself its biggest party of the year at the North American International Auto Show and debuts 2007 models. The 700,000-square-foot Cobo Convention Center is filled with shiny new cars from all over the world, well-fed dealers, back-slapping executives, excited enthusiasts, and dozens of pretty girls in skimpy clothes.

But this year, behind all the razzle-dazzle and forced smiles, Detroit doesn't have too much to celebrate. The reason is that on Jan. 3, General Motors (GM), Ford (F), and Chrysler all released their December, 2006 sales figures, and they were just as grim as everyone had known they would be. That fact was made even harder to swallow as Toyota (TM) enjoyed another banner year and is now poised to pass longtime industry leader GM this year as the world's biggest automaker by sales.