Southfield (WWJ)  -- The economic slump in the United States will be "deeper and longer" than most people have anticipated, according to Ford CEO Alan Mulally.   

Speaking at the Paris Auto Show Thursday, Mulally said a bankruptcy filing for Ford remains unlikely.  

Ford Wednesday reported September auto sales dropped 34 percent.   Mulally said Ford is forecasting auto sales to fare no better than in 2008.  The slowdown makes it difficult for everybody, he said. "It means you have to continue taking action on the cost side," Mulally said. 

Meanwhile, General Motors won't rule out the need for further restructuring if economic times get even tougher and says it is vital that U.S. lawmakers pass a financial bailout package.

"We'll take the actions that are necessary,'' Fritz Henderson, the automaker's chief operating officer, told The Associated Press in an interview at the Paris Motor Show.

"If the situation deteriorates further, we'll have to look at further actions, but we don't have anything planned today,'' he said.

GM, once the largest U.S. employer, marked its 100th anniversary last month facing a crisis like no other in its storied history.

It lost $57.5 billion over the past 18 months, including $15.5 billion in the second quarter. It's burning more than $1 billion a month in cash, has more than $32 billion in long-term debt, and a slumping U.S. market has forced it to close factories and shed workers.

In July, it suspended its dividend for the first time in 86 years, and the company has been in perpetual restructuring since at least 2002.

Henderson said it is "extraordinarily important'' for both GM and the wider auto industry that Congress pass the bailout package for battered Wall Street financial institutions.

"A lot of what happens in '09 we'll find out in the next week ... If the bill doesn't pass, maybe you'll see more chaos in the credit markets,'' he said.

"Even if it does pass I still think that '09 will be weaker,'' he added.  "I don't see anything which would suggest that you'd see a significant rebound, at least in the first half.''

Overall U.S. auto sales plunged last month, dropping below 1 million for the first time in more than 15 years as some consumers struggled to get car loans and others stay away from showrooms amid bank failures and Wall Street turmoil.

Sales at every major U.S. and foreign brand fell at least 24 percent from the previous year, except for GM, which said it sold 16 percent fewer vehicles.