The American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA)released May 2009 sales figures for the international automobile industry. AIADA represents over 11,000 international franchises, which so far this year account for 55 percent of all vehicles sold in the United States. Overall sales, including domestics and unadjusted for business days, were down 33.7 percent from May 2008.

"There was a great deal of unrest in the industry in May," said AIADA President Cody Lusk. "Some of the uncertainty was put to rest in the beginning of this month with General Motor's bankruptcy announcement. Now, as an industry, we can focus fully on recovery. The first element of that recovery is incentivizing customers to buy. Today, we look to Congress to do just that by passing a scrappage plan that will quickly and effectively stimulate sales."

According to numbers from Autodata Corp., international brands sold 501,096 vehicles in May, up from 442,124 vehicles in April, but down from 776,272 in May 2008. Asian brands accounted for 45.6 percent of the market, down from 48.1 percent in April 2008, and Europeans had an 8.5 percent share, up from 7.5 percent. Domestic brands finished the month with 45.9 percent of the market.

May is the first month in 2009 that no single brand saw an improvement over 2008. However, not all the news from May is bad. Manufacturers sold 925,824 new cars and trucks in May, the highest level thus far in 2009. Those sales resulted in a seasonally adjusted annual selling rate of 9.9 million, up from a predicted rate of 9.3 million in April.