Sales have slumped at two of the largest US car manufacturers, Ford and General Motors, new figures reveal.

GM announced that it recorded a seven per cent drop in sales for the August period, whilst Ford reported a 5.9 per cent drop in results for US brands.

Ford was particularly hard hit by the poor performance of its Jaguar division, which recorded a 33.4 per cent decline in sales.

The manufacturers announced that they would be cutting their production rates in the fourth-quarter as a result.

GM says it plans to produce 1.2 million vehicles, a fall of almost seven per cent on last year, whilst Ford revealed plans to build 830,000 vehicles in the fourth-quarter, down nearly 8 per cent on 2003.

Meanwhile, on a more positive note, the Chrysler division of DaimlerChrysler reported a one per cent rise in sales, the fifth-straight month of stronger results for the manufacturer.