Auto sales in November plummeted to the lowest monthly total in a quarter century as consumers hold back for better economic times.

Sales tallies released by Autodata yesterday showed a 36.7 percent drop in car and truck sales overall in November compared with the month last year.

The 746,789 total sales marked the first time the industry failed to sell 750,000 vehicles in a single month since January 1982, Autodata said.

Every big automaker, foreign and domestic, took a drubbing.

General Motors' sales tumbled 41.3 percent, Ford Motor's fell 30.5 percent, and Chrysler's were off 47.1 percent, adding to the deep financial distress on the day their CEOs presented plans to Congress to make their case for a bailout.

In contrast to past declines, Japan's three biggest auto brands in the U.S. hit the same trouble. Toyota cratered 33.9 percent, Honda was whacked 31.6 percent, and Nissan flattened 42.2 percent.

Sales are "dreadful," said Jack Nerad, market analyst for Kelley Blue Book, about the sales figures. "The customer is just saying, 'I'm going to sit this one out right now.' "

With only a month left in the year, the auto industry is on track to barely crack the 13-million sales mark for 2008, compared with 16.2 million vehicles sold last year. It would be the lowest-selling year since 13.9 million in 1993.

With sales still falling — November sales were about 90,000 fewer than October's — the industry is likely to start 2009 in an even deeper hole and continue to be unable to curtail production fast enough. "We cannot operate at these levels, or the entire industry is going to go down," warned GM sales analyst Michael DiGiovanni.