DETROIT, Michigan, Oct 1, 2008 (AFP) - Toyota Motor reported a 29.5 percent drop in September US sales as a broad economic downturn took a massive bite out of auto sales.

The Japanese automaker has seen its sales fall 10.4 percent in the first nine months of the year to 1.8 million vehicles while September sales fell to 144,260 from 213,042 vehicles a year ago.

Truck and sport utility vehicle sales have taken the biggest hit as consumers shy away from gasoline guzzlers in the wake of high fuel costs. They were down 35.4 percent in September to 55,918 vehicles and off by 17.8 percent for the year to date at 685,179 vehicles.

But Toyota's smaller, more fuel efficient cars also took a hit, falling 25.1 percent in September to 88,342 vehicles and 5.2 percent so far this year to 1.1 million.

Even Toyota's popular gas-electric hybrid, the Prius, is waning as sales fell 9.3 percent in September to 10,873 and 4.8 percent to 130,561 for the year.