Car sales in the United States may have plummeted during the month of August, hitting a 28-year low for the industry.

Industrywide deliveries, to be released tomorrow, may have reached an annualized rate of 11.6 million vehicles this month, the average of eight analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. That would be the slowest August since 1982, according to researcher Ward’s AutoInfoBank.

The problem appears to be confidence. Americans aren’t even sure they can hold onto their homes, much less a new vehicle that requires service and large monthly payments.

“When you’ve got that sentiment, that fear hanging over the market, it makes it a tough sell for consumers” to spend $25,000 or more on a vehicle, said Wall, who is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

When the unemployment rate is high, home sales are low, private sector wages are down, and consumer confidence is fizzling…let’s just say Americans aren’t about to run out and buy that new minivan if they don’t absolutely, positively need it.

Fleet sales — that is vehicles purchased en masse for rental car companies, businesses, and the federal government — are expected to make-up about 20% of total deliveries in August.

Meanwhile, the United Auto Workers union is pushing for yet another massively expensive, completely ineffective stimulus package from the federal government. Because the last $787 billion one was so effective, apparently.