The U.S. automobile industry had quite a party during this decade's credit-infused economic boom, but the hangover could last for years to come.The party was made possible by easy access to cheap credit and skyrocketing housing prices that allowed Americans to use homes like cash machines and buy new cars that, ultimately like their homes in many cases, they could not really afford.
But the financial crisis -- particularly in the wake of the game-changing collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. last September -- and the U.S. recession have pushed U.S. auto sales to their lowest in decades, forcing automakers Chrysler LLC and General Motors into bankruptcy.
The world into which a restructured Chrysler and GM emerge will likely see a smaller auto market in the United States, even after an economic recovery, largely because easy credit is a thing of the past.
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