U.S. January auto sales pace weakens - exec

DETROIT, Industrywide U.S. auto sales have weakened a bit after being relatively strong in the first half of January, Ford Motor Co's (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research) marketing and sales chief said on Tuesday.
"We did see a strengthening in the first week and a half or two weeks across the brands, but we have seen a little bit of weakening since then," Jim Farley told reporters on the sidelines of the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit.
He said industrywide January sales appear to be tracking about where Ford expected -- an annual rate of about 10 million vehicles.
Ford, the No. 2 U.S.-based automaker by sales volume behind General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), has sought a $9 billion line of credit from the U.S. government as insurance against the economy worsening.
Farley said that of Tuesday, Ford had enough liquidity to fund its product plans.
He said he believes the new Obama administration will put in place some type of program to spur consumer demand, whether with a direct stimulus package or some other strategy.