Check it out. We've completely revamped By the Numbers to convey more sales information than before in a much easier to digest way. Now we'll be reporting both the change in monthly sales volume for each brand and automaker as well as the change in their Daily Sales Rate or average number of vehicles sold per day. On to the armchair analysis...

Poor sales continued through the month of August as only a handful of brands are able to brag about increased sales. Nissan North America bucked the trend entirely reporting a 13.6% gain for the combined brands of Nissan and Infiniti with each marque reporting its own individual increases. Credit goes to VW (2.9%), as well, which posted a solid number, and the BMW Group (1.0%), which barely earned a positive increase in sales thanks to a strong 34.1% increase in MINI sales.

While GM (-20.4%), FoMoCo (-25.6%) and Chrysler LLC (-34.5%) sales were all down in a big way, Toyota MoCo and Honda America were also not immune falling 9.4% and 7.3%, respectively. In this environment, brands should consider a single-digit drop a small victory considering the majority of brands that fell by 10% or more.

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August 2008 had 27 selling days versus 27 selling days for August 2007

UPDATE: Audi added and Subaru's sales figures corrected.