The automobile sales figures for February show that the slowdown in the auto industry is accelerating rapidly, with each of the Big Three automakers dropping at least 44% over the previous year and the big Japanese automakers doing only slightly better. Automotive News reports the figures.
 
The figures for the Big Three are devastatingly bad. Chrysler did the best of the three by only falling 44%. Ford (NYSE:F) declined by 49.5% and General Motors (NYSE:GM) by an astonishing 53.1%. Honda (NYSE:HMC) and Toyota (NYSE:TM), meanwhile, dropped 38% and 39.8% respectively. For the first two months of 2009 compared to the first two months of 2008, Chrysler is off 49.1%, Ford 45.9% and GM 51.1% — and that’s down from already historically low levels.