Auto sales down 32%

U.S. auto sales plunged 32 percent in October, to their lowest annual rate in a quarter-century, as sagging consumer confidence and tight credit paralyzed the market. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

Consumers ignored zero-percent financing and other incentives designed to lure them into showrooms just as 2009 models began to arrive.

"This market is extremely tough. I've never seen it this difficult," said 55-year dealership veteran Bert Boeckmann, president of Galpin Motors and owner of the biggest-volume Ford dealership in the world.