The Big Three Detroit carmakers reported hefty double digit declines from a year ago and Japan’s Toyota and Honda saw single digit losses while Nissan bucked the trend with an increase in sales. Automakers saw another painful slide in US sales this August with the consumers cautious amid a weak economy. According to research firm Autodata, the total new car sales amounted to 1.249 million units, or an adjusted annual pace 13.72 million down a whopping 15.5 percent from a year ago.

According to industry source Detroit auto companies are preparing to launch a campaign for assistance next week and the goal is to have Congress approve at least 25 billion dollars in loans by the end of September. Peter Morici economist at the University of Maryland said “It is a bad time for the industry, even for those companies that are competitive.” “I don’t expect thing to improve much because the economic conditions are slowing further people don’t have any money for big purchases.”

GM’s sales were notably better than the consensus forecast for a 29 percent drop, and were arguably aided by the employee discount program said Himanshu Patel at JP Morgan Securities . Reported August that General Motors US sales slumped 20.4 percent from a year ago to 308,817 vehicles and although it pointed out that sales were up a significant 31 percent from a month earlier.

August US sales slid 26.6 percent from a year ago, citing a weak economy and sluggish demand for large trucks and sport utility vehicles said Ford Motor Co. and Ford also cited higher demand for fuel efficient small cars and SUVs but this was offset by other factors. The company said “the impact of a weak economy and lower demand for larger trucks and SUV’s resulted in double digit sales declines for Ford and the auto industry.”

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