So, will the good times ever return in the west? Back to the halcyon days of record sales and profits?

Certainly, things are still on the up in growth eastern markets like China, if flattening off: July passenger vehicle sales were up 6.79% year on year though down 17.02% from June. Passenger vehicle sales for the first seven months of this year grew 15.79% to 4.10m units. Honda China's July sales rose 33.6% from a year earlier last month and were up 23.1% year to date.

Oh, for such news from the west. Instead we had to tell you that US sales tanked 20% last month - one fifth - though, as ever, there were bright spots in the form of volume hikes for well-made and relatively fuel-efficient domestics like the Chevy Malibu and Ford Focus and import fuel sippers like Toyota's Corolla and Yaris and Honda's Fit - up an astonishing 72.9% in its final model year.

Amongst individual automakers, only Nissan (just 0.1%) and Daimler (a healthy 15.7%) made gains in the US last month. Chrysler led Detroit over the cliff, down 34.4% followed by GM (-31.8%) and Ford (-21.3%).

Even Import Central was not immune - Toyota off 18.7%, Honda down 9.2%, Mazda down 20%, Mitsubishi off 14%, Hyundai down 13.6% and affiliate Kia off 3.1%. As we said on Monday, grim.

So could we find better news this side of the Atlantic? Nope. Falling consumer confidence over here saw the UK new car market fall 13.0% in July - the steepest decline since December 2006. Confidence isn't exactly going to get a boost from the newspaper headlines today, either - 'House repossessions up 50% in 12 months'. Western Europe last month didn't grow either, according to JD Power.

Maybe Toyota's worldwide reach immunised it from the US subprime crisis and leasing residuals meltdown? Uh-uh. Operating income off 38.9% to 412.5bn yen, net income off 28.1% to 353.6bn yen. No joy there, either. Japanese analysts reckoned the result would have been worse if not for a little creative bookkeeping and noted the company was heading for a full-year net profit off 27%, it's worst in six years; UK analysts reckoned that though the mighty automaker had taken some US knocks, it was moving fast to adjust its model mix there, working on other cost pressures, and was at least partly cushioned by positive results in emerging markets.

Meanwhile, Chrysler claimed a H1 operating profit and healthy cash hoard but was coy on a report - in an authorative business paper -  it was looking at outsourcing development and production of mid-size cars to Nissan, which it is already doing small car business.

Such model-sharing is hardly new - it's very common in the minicar segment in Japan but gets mixed results in other markets. Rebadging the Subaru Impreza as a Saab for the US flopped; Mazda 323s and 626s sold as Ford Lasers and Telstars in Asia and Oceania outsold the Mazdas but the general rule of thumb is that the 'originals' sells better than the rebranded 'clones'. And I wonder what the UAW would say about Chrysler Sebrings and Dodge Avengers imported from Oppama rather than built in Michigan.

Also worth a look before you sign off: our own Matthew Beecham's review of the run-flat tyre business - there's growth there, at least.

Enjoy your weekend,

Graeme Roberts
Deputy Editor
just-auto.com