Ford's August sales down 14 percent despite strong crossover demand

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Ford Motor Co. said its North American August sales were off 14 percent compared with the same period in 2006.

But the automaker said it's encouraged by demand for crossover products like the new Edge and Lincoln MKX.

Overall the company sold 218,332 units in August, down from 255,112 a year ago.

Last month's figure includes 10,165 Edge crossovers and 3,421 of its counterpart Lincoln MKX. Also improved were sales of the redesigned Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner models.

Continuing its planned withdrawal from the daily rental-car fleet business, Ford said sales through that channel were down 44 percent.

Nevertheless, Ford said its fourth-quarter North American production target is 640,000 units, up 6 percent from 2006.

Industrywide, Edmunds.com, a Web site for car buyers, is predicting August sales will be down 5 percent from a year ago, but improved from the steep declines of June and July. CSM Worldwide forecast that U.S. sales will fall to 16.2 million in 2007, from 16.5 million last year. If that happens, sales would be at their lowest level since 1998.