Car industry gloom descends on GM, BMW, Nissan

By Christiaan Hetzner and David Bailey

FRANKFURT/DETROIT (Reuters) - The meltdown in the global car industry claimed more victims on Friday as General Motors lost another $15.5 billion (7.8 billion pounds), BMW warned on profits and Nissan earnings missed expectations by a wide margin.

General Motor Corp's GM.N quarterly loss -- the third largest in its 100-year history -- came as its North American sales fell 20 percent and plunging prices for SUVs prompted deep charges for its auto finance business.

The No. 1 U.S. automaker also burned through $3.6 billion in cash in the quarter, refocusing investor attention on whether GM can complete a rushed restructuring before its cash and available credit runs down.

Germany's BMW AG (BMWG.DE), the world's biggest premium carmaker, said it would miss its 2008 targets after a 44 percent plunge in quarterly pretax profit.

"Business conditions for the automobile industry deteriorated sharply again in the second quarter due to further ongoing steep rises in oil and raw material prices, the weakness of the U.S. dollar, the impact of the international financial crisis and a weaker U.S. economy," BMW said.

Nissan Motor Co (7201.T), Japan's No.3 automaker controlled by Renault SA (RENA.PA), posted a much worse-than-expected 46 percent drop in quarterly operating profit. It stuck to annual forecasts for its lowest operating profit in seven years.

On Friday, the world's automakers reported a 13.2 percent drop in U.S. auto sales in July as an uncertain U.S. economy bludgeoned manufacturers in the largest and most lucrative auto market.

It was the ninth consecutive month of declining sales in the U.S. market -- the first time that has happened since the last U.S. recession seven years ago -- and the worst showing since April 1992.