It has not been a good week for Detroit darlings General Motors (GM: sentiment, chart, options) and Ford Motor (F: sentiment, chart, options). Yesterday, Ford announced that it will curb production at a German plant, while General Motors said that it is considering a plan to sell its downtown Detroit headquarters. The situation has worsened today for the duo, as Citigroup cut its ratings on both firms to "sell" from "hold." Currently, Zacks.com reports that F sports 8 "holds" and 1 "sell," while GM has garnered 1 "buy," 5 "holds," and 2 "sells." With analysts looking to downgrade "holds" to "sells" on the automakers, there is plenty of room for more brokers to follow suit.

Elsewhere, auto-industry tracking firm Global Insight lowered its forecast for U.S. auto sales in 2009. According to the firm, U.S. industry-wide auto sales are expected to decline from 13.8 million units this year, their lowest level in 15 years, to 13.4 million units next year. "The credit crisis has really hurt the economy and consumer confidence," Global Insight said. "The economy will be particularly brutal on the auto market next year."

At last check, F was off more than 7%, tagging a fresh multi-year low of $2.10 per share. Meanwhile, GM has dropped more than 6% to hit a multi-year low of $6.42 per share.