Grim month ahead for US auto giants

General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC will shutter about 59 factories over the next month as they struggle to adapt to the worst sales in 26 years and await a verdict on a US rescue of the industry.

The closings show how far automakers are going to conserve cash and prune output under the pressures of a shrinking US market, dwindling access to credit for dealers and demands for advance payments by some GM and Chrysler parts suppliers.

"No one is immune," said Ed Kim, director of industry analysis for consulting firm AutoPacific Inc in Tustin, California. The industry is "imploding to a degree I'd never imagined could happen, and at a speed I'd never expected."