General Motors reported a massive second-quarter loss Friday on the back of weak demand in the US car market spurred by soaring fuel prices and a weaker economy.

GM lost $15.5 billion, or $27.33 per share, the largest automaker said Friday from its headquarters in Detroit. The loss was worse than had been anticipated. In the same period last year, the company made a profit of $891 million, or $1.56 per share.

The losses included 9.1 billion dollars in one-time costs, excluding those measures GM said the loss was 6.3 billion dollars, or 11.21 dollars per share.

Revenue in the second quarter was 38.2 billion dollars, a decline of 18 per cent.

GM and its US competitors Ford and Chrysler have been hit by a fall-off in the sales of sports utility vehicles due to high petrol prices and are now trying to switch production to smaller, more economical cars.

Over the past several months, chief executive Rick Wagoner has announced a slew of new cost-cutting measures to counter the effect of soaring fuel prices, a weak US economy and the lowest US auto sales in a decade, including cutting salaried payroll by 20 per cent, eliminating its 25-cent quarterly dividend and selling assets to raise at least 15 billion dollars over the next 18 months.

Since Wagoner became chief executive in June 2000, GM has cut its US salaried workforce to 32,000 from 44,000.

"As our recent product, capacity and liquidity actions clearly demonstrate, we are reacting rapidly to the challenges facing the US economy and auto market, and we continue to take the aggressive steps necessary to transform our US operations," Wagoner said in a statement Friday.

GM said the losses were spurred by sales declines in North America, a strike at American Axle, losses on leases and its share in finance unit GMAC, as well as costs related to job cuts and other restructuring measures.

Its sales volume fell 5 per cent in the second quarter to 2.29 million vehicles, and the decline was even steeper in North America, where sales slid 20 per cent. Sales internationally were up 10 per cent.