Ring in the new year? The party's over for automakers

By Peter Bohan

DETROIT (Reuters) - Automakers put on a brave face at the world's biggest auto show on Sunday, with the sales outlook bleak for the coming year and fabled firms struggling for survival despite massive government aid.

"All I can tell you is that demand is a little more robust than we expected," Ford Motor Co sales chief Jim Farley said of January sales at the North American International Auto Show. "I would say a little, not dramatically."

U.S. auto sales fell 18 percent in 2008 from the prior year to about 13.2 million vehicles, battered by a spreading credit crunch, U.S. recession and plummeting consumer confidence.

Most automakers expect sales to decline even more in 2009. Ford expects U.S. auto sales at 12.5 million at best. GM officials said they could fall as low as 10.5 million.

"I have seen a better mood at funerals," said Mike Jackson, president of AutoNation, the largest U.S. car dealer group.

That downbeat tone pervaded the cavernous Cobo Center in the Motor City, where the only buzz inside the building was again "electric" this year -- as in electric cars, gas-electric hybrids and the promise of other developing green technology.

General Motors Corp, Chrysler, Ford, Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co Ltd all updated plans to offer all-electric or new hybrids in the next few years.