Honda Motor Co. may ask to borrow money from the government to lend to U.S. car buyers after suffering a 38 percent plunge in U.S. auto sales in February, the company said Wednesday.

The amount of loans and the timing of the request to the state-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation haven't been determined, spokeswoman Akemi Ando said. Mazda Motor Corp. is also considering a request for government loans, spokesman Toyota Tanaka said.

Honda and Mazda would follow Toyota Motor Corp. in seeking loans from the government as the global recession hammers auto demand. U.S. auto sales in February slid to the lowest rate since December 1981, led by a 53 percent plunge for General Motors Corp.

"Things look pretty grim at present," said Edwin Merner, president of Atlantis Investment Research Corp. in Tokyo. "By the end of the year, the year-on-year figures should start improving unless the world economy gets much worse."

Among Honda's models, only its Fit small car and Acura TSX sport sedan posted gains in U.S. sales last month. The company may request at least ¥10 billion from the government, a business daily said Wednesday, without citing sources.

Mazda, which is partially owned by Ford Motor Co., increasingly needs the funds, mainly in the United States and Europe, Tanaka said. No details have been decided regarding a request for government funding, he said.

The carmaker's U.S. sales slid 30 percent in February to 16,401 vehicles.

The government will use some of its foreign-exchange reserves to lend to JBIC, which gives financing to Japanese companies operating abroad, Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said Tuesday. The ministry may lend about $5 billion to the bank this month, he said.

Honda has ¥986 billion in bonds coming due this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.