Honda had pristine sales record before the global recession, but the automaker announced a U.S. sales drop of 17 percent this month compared to July 2008. It sold a total of 114,690 vehicles as opposed to the 138,744 units sold July last year.

Honda Civic sales were up by 3.1 percent to 30,037, aided by the government’s Cash for Clunker program. Accord is down 28 percent to 29,974. The Honda’s CR-V continues to sell well, rising 10 percent to 19,151. These three models were the only bright spots in Honda’s lineup. Things get bad (Pilot: 6,340, -15.3 percent) to worse (Odyssey: 6,785, -48 percent). Sales of its latest hybrid, the Honda Insight, have been dropping steadily since its lanche several months ago.

On its luxury front, Acura saw its sales fall by 32%. Sales for the TL dropped by a mere 16.5%, while TSX sales fell by over 35 percent to just 2,232 units. The RL sold only 131 units. MDX sale fell 29% to 2,471, while RDX managed a measly 519 sales.