NEW YORK - A top Ford executive expects industrywide U.S. auto sales to rise for the first time in more than two years this month, thanks largely to the government's Cash for Clunkers program, according to The Associated Press.

Sales may have risen as high as 13 million units on an annualized basis during Augusts, Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas, told reporters on Friday.

Retail sales at Ford Motor Co. in August have already surpassed last year's levels with a weekend still to go, he said. Ford's sales in July rose 2.4 percent.