FordÔÇÖs July sales jump

Ford, the second-largest US automaker, will announce its first year-on-year sales increase since 2007 later today, thanks to the GovernmentÔÇÖs ÔÇ£cash for clunkersÔÇØ scheme.  The federal Car Allowance Rebate System prompted a sudden surge in sales at the end of July for Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford, as customers rushed to trade in older vehicles in return for sums of up to $4,500 if they bought new, fuel-efficient models.  Within one week, buyers had almost exhausted the $1 billion of federal funding, which was made available from July 24. Around 200,000 vehicles were sold over the seven-day period. According to government data, FordÔÇÖs Explorer, which has previously been the top-selling SUV in the US, was the most traded-in vehicle. By contrast, its small Focus saloon was the top car purchased. On July 31, a further $2 billion was approved to be allocated to the scheme by the Government. Ford has said its annualized sales rate is expected to hit well over 10 million units in July. In July 2008,┬áthe company┬ásold a total of 156,406 vehicles. This year,┬áFord posted a net profit of $2.3 billion between April and June, compared with a loss of $8.7 billion for the same period a year ago.  The July increase will be the first for any of the large automakers since the onset of the financial crisis.┬á * ┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á*┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *┬á