Auto industry analysts are predicting another terrible month of sales for December, perhaps low enough to reach the worst sales the industry has seen in 26 years:

The auto information site Edmunds.com predicts an annual sales rate of 9.8 million for December, while the market research firm J.D. Power and Associates expects 10 million. The rate, which fell to 10.3 million in November, has not fallen below 10 million since August 1982.
 
“We thought the bottom was October. Then we thought it was November. It seemed like maybe it’s December, but we’re not so sure anymore,” said Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com’s executive director of industry analysis.

Many analysts are not publishing forecasts until later this week. But Edmunds.com and J.D. Power forecast sales decreases of between 37 and 38.4 percent. The declines would be the industry’s 18th in the past 19 months.

The official figures are due to be released on January 5. The final figures for the year will almost certainly show a decrease in new auto sales of around 3 million cars compared to 2007.