Poor results throughout the automotive sector have led to a slide in the price of platinum.

Both General Motors and BMW have suffered as a result of the current economic climate with the price of platinum also seeing a downturn.

According to Reuters, platinum ended six per cent lower while palladium also dropped.

BMW has said it will miss its targets for 2008 blaming rises in oil prices and the increasing cost of raw materials.

BMW also blamed the weak US dollar and the impact of the credit crunch while Norbert Reithofer, Chief Executive of the firm, said 2009 is likely to hold further challenges.

GM also announced losses as sales in North America dropped by 20 per cent because the value of big, used cars was decreasing.

Meanwhile, Nissan said it was trying to increase prices and reduce truck production, as well as cutting jobs.

Ford increased sales of its small cars - the Focus seeing a 16 per cent increase in sales in July.

But sales of SUVs were 54 per cent lower and trucks and vans were down by 18 per cent.

Toyota saw sales of its SUV models drop by 32 per cent on July 2007 in the US while 33 per cent fewer light trucks were sold.



Source:

Carmaker GM loses another $15.5bn, 01/08/08
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7537283.stm

Platinum slides on bleak outlook for carmakers, 01/08/08
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=goldMktRpt&storyid=2008-08-01T192819Z_01_L1340265_RTRIDST_0_MARKETS-PRECIOUS-UPDATE-7.XML

BMW to miss its targets for 2008, 01/08/08
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7536749.stm

General Motors announces a $15bn quarterly loss, 02/08/08
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/engineering/article4446107.ece