U.S. auto sales to rise for the first time since 2007, Ford says

Auto sales in the U.S. will rise in August for the first time in 22 months, according to a top sales analyst from Ford Motor Company. The last month of positive growth in the U.S. auto industry was October 2007, Since then industry sales have plummeted, bottoming out during the first half of 2009.

George Pipas of FoMoCo, told Automotive News that the surge from the government’s cash-for-clunkers program gave the industry the shot of adrenaline it needed to jump start itself as the seasonally adjusted annual sales rate for July was 11.1 million vehicles.

Rates were below 10 million the first half of 2009. While declining to predict an actual rate for August, Pipas did mention that he was confident that August’s rates will be the highest they’ve been since at least the second quarter of 2008.

– By: Stephen Calogera