Ford says October sales rose after clunker hangover

Ford Motor Co. said U.S. auto sales rose in October from a month earlier as the industry probably rebounded from the drop in demand that followed the so-called cash for clunkers program.

"The roller coaster is pretty much over," Ken Czubay, the U.S. sales chief, told reporters today at Ford's headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. "People aren't all of a sudden popping Champagne corks, but they are feeling on the bubble of being more stable."

Industrywide October sales of cars and trucks ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 10.3 million, based on the average of 9 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The rate was 10.6 million a year earlier.

Sales at a pace of 10 million or more would make October the first month this year to top that mark without the benefit of the government's clunkers incentives, which ran from July 27 through Aug. 24. September deliveries slumped after the U.S. rebates drained demand and depleted dealers' inventory.

"Industry sales of light vehicles appear to have continued their steady recovery since the post-clunkers trough of last month, benefiting from improved vehicle availability, and from higher incentive spending and marketing activity by the automakers," Brian Johnson, a Chicago-based analyst with Barclays Capital, said in a note to investors Oct. 28.

Ford 'Pleased'

While Czubay didn't project Ford's results for the month, he said the second-largest U.S. automaker was "pleased" with its performance and that it was still "too close to call" whether sales would rise from a year earlier.

"We are getting back to sequential business improvements," Czubay said. Ford will join the rest of the industry in reporting October sales on Nov. 3.

The $787 billion stimulus Congress passed in February is starting to boost economic activity, Czubay said.

"Shovels are in the ground and wheels are moving things around America," Czubay said. "We're starting to see that sort of activity take hold."

Before a 5.1 percent drop in September, Ford posted U.S. sales gains in July and August, powered by consumer demand for the clunkers cash. That was the first time that Ford, General Motors Co. or Chrysler Group LLC increased deliveries for two or more months since GM's August-October streak in 2007.