GM's Global Sales Drop 11 Percent

The bad news just keeps coming for GM.

This morning the Detroit automaker said its global sales fell by 11 percent in the third quarter. No automaker is burning up the sales, but Toyota's third quarter was not quite as bad -- its global sales were down 4 percent.

Toyota sold 2.24 million vehicles worldwide in the quarter; GM sold 2.11 million.

GM and Chrysler are in merger talks in a move to save both struggling former auto giants.

This morning, The Post's Kendra Marr reported that GMAC, the financing arm of GM (which is majority-owned by Cerberus Capital, the majority owner of Chrysler), is trying to convert itself into a bank holding company so it can qualify for government bailout money.

And The Post's Steve Pearlstein says that bankruptcy, not bailout, is the answer for Detroit's crippled automakers.

Finally, The Post's Blaine Harden reports from Japan that Toyota may be best-equipped of the automakers to weather the current economic troubles.

-- Frank Ahrens