New York - US carmakers ended 2008 with further year-on-year declines in December and the lowest yearly sales figures in 15 years.

About 13 million vehicles were sold in 2008 in the United States, down from more than 16 million in 2007, with the steepest drops in sales coming in the last months of the year.

Analysts anticipate sales could be even worse in 2009, as sales figures for December fell by more than the year as a whole.

General Motors Corp, the largest US carmaker, saw sales fall by nearly 23 per cent for the year to just under 3 million vehicles. The firm said sales fell more than 31 per cent in December from the same period last year despite hefty incentives for car buyers.

Munich - Sales by car manufacturer BMW in the company's important market in the United States dropped 9.7 per cent in 2008 from the prior year, the Munich-based company reported Monday.

Tokyo - New car sales in Japan dropped the lowest in 34 years in 2008 as consumer appetite waned amid economic recession, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Monday.

The sales of new cars fell to 3,212,342 units in 2008, down 6.5 per cent from the year before, the association said. The figures exclude small car sales.

Annual sales in the record year of 1990 reached 5,975,089 units.

Sales of passenger cars fell 5.2 per cent, while truck sales declined 14.8 per cent and bus sales dipped 1.8 per cent.

Auto giants Hyundai and Honda reported positive growth in December due to selling vehicles at discounted prices and introducing new models. The recently announced excise duty cut on vehicles also helped to increase the vehicle sales of Hyundai, Honda Siel and SkodaAuto while other auto companies including Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) have continued to slide following the low demand. Mahindra & Mahindra posted 30 per cent decline in sales by selling 10,665 units in December as compared to 15,316 sold last year.

Washington  - The US government moved during the New Year's holiday to free up more money for auto loans and to start the emergency infusion of billions of dollars directly into the industry to keep it afloat.

While Chrysler Corporation was still waiting for its money on Friday, General Motors has received 4 billion dollars of the 13.4- billion-dollar lifeline promised by US George W Bush late in December, Bloomberg financial news service reported.

Madrid - Spanish car sales went down 28.1 per cent in 2008 in t