From today’s New York Times. Are we supposed to be surprised or feel sorry for them?

DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Corp. (GM.N) and Ford Motor Co. (F.N) on Monday posted big declines in U.S. vehicle sales in September as employee pricing discount programs lost their allure and sales of traditional SUVs plunged on higher gasoline prices after hurricanes ravaged the U.S. Gulf Coast.

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“It’s history repeating itself,” he [Paul Ballew, GM's head of global market and industry analysis] added. “You go back to the ’70s, during those oil shocks the Japanese took market share.”

Japanese automakers have been relentlessly increasing their share of the U.S. market, stealing sales from Ford and GM, which have been struggling with issues ranging from excess inventory to a shift in consumer taste away from larger sport utility vehicles.