CSBJ Daily

The Associated Press

DETROIT – Ford Motor Co. said today its U.S. sales fell 26.5 percent during August, as the struggling automaker’s results – even worse than July’s dismal figures – showed that the U.S. auto sales slump may not have bottomed out.

Toyota’s sales dropped 9.4 percent from August of last year, a further indication that the woes in the U.S. auto market are continuing, but Nissan – the only major automaker to show a sales gain in July – reported another improvement, with a 13.6 percent increase in August sales.

Ford sold 155,172 light vehicles last month, down 3.6 percent from 160,990 in July, which was the industry’s worst month for U.S. sales in 16 years.

The Dearborn-based automaker said its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury car sales dropped nearly 9 percent, while truck sales were off more than 32 percent last month.

The company also doesn’t expect a sales rebound in the second half of the year. It said Wednesday that it plans to cut 50,000 more vehicles from its production plan in the second half of the year, reducing its output to 890,000 in the last six months of 2008.