General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have reported a decline in vehicle sales over the past month.

General Motors revealed a 12 per cent fall in May sales, whilst Ford showed an 11 per cent decrease and Chrysler reported a 2.5 per cent downturn in its sales.

The market leader, General Motors, reported double-digit falls in its SUV models, in part due to rising fuel costs - meaning a 5.3 per cent decline in total car sales for the year so far.

Ford also confirmed a 13 per cent fall in both truck and light truck sales. The auto maker has seen sales fall by 1.3 million (5.6 per cent) since the start of the year, although Ford confirmed its popular Mustang model showed a 47 per cent increase.

Meanwhile, Chrysler reported that it sold a total of 214,575 vehicles in May, compared to 220,131 in the same period last year.

In addition to rising gas prices, industry experts are predicting that higher car loan rates and weak consumer confidence are the major factors behind the downturn in sales.