Car Sales Plummet; Ford F-Series Still Most Popular

October was not a good month for the auto industry. GM’s loss of 45% of its sales compared to October 2007 may get the most headlines tonight, but almost everyone saw huge dips, with Chrysler (35%), Nissan (33%), Ford (29%), Honda (28%) and Toyota (25.9%) all down as well.

Despite the tough economic times, Ford did manage to sell 43,324 F-Series, and a majority of those were the outgoing 2008 F-150 model. Only 3,000 were the redesigned 2009 model. We’d also guess that a majority of those 3,000 were sold to dealers or other industry groups, as the 2009 just barely went on sale officially.

Not only were total sales down, but there wasn’t one Ford model that had a positive uptick in sales. For GM, only the Chevy Malibu, Impala and Pontiac Vibe saw increases. Toyota and Honda didn’t fare any better, with the Toyota Corolla and Sequoia and the Lexus LX570, and the Honda Fit and Acura TL being those companies’ only models to see sales move upward. Chrysler saw no mainstream models increase in sales; only the Dodge Viper and the discontinued Chrysler Crossfire saw increases. The new Dodge Challenger did sell just over 3,000 units, though.

What does this mean for you? November is typically a slow sales month any year, so expect a new slew of significant incentives to be released this week.

Below are the 10 best-selling vehicles in the U.S. last month.

Top 10 Sales: October 2008

• Ford F-Series: 43,324
• Chevy Silverado: 31,689
• Toyota Camry 30,556
• Toyota Corolla 27,386
• Chevy Impala: 22,107
• Honda Accord: 19,783
• Honda Civic: 18,582
• Dodge Ram: 17,626
• Nissan Altima: 17,753
• Honda CR-V: 13,169