Reeling from its worst performance in 105 years, Ford Motor has enough cash for about eight more months but says it would rather borrow from banks than take government-bailout money.

Ford yesterday posted its worst annual loss, totaling $14.6 billion, breaking its previous record of $12.6 billion reported two years earlier.

Executives blamed Ford’s sharp 30 percent drop in sales for the wipeout. In the fourth quarter, however, Ford spent $5.1 billion more than it took in, causing a quarterly loss of $5.9 billion.

Shoring up for a rougher year ahead than expected, Ford told lenders yesterday that it wants to borrow the remaining $10.1 billion of its secured credit line. The move would put off any temptation to take government bailout money, executives said.

“We took this action because of our concerns about the growing instability of the capital markets,” said CEO Alan Mulally. “It’s not our plan at all to access the government money.”

Ford earlier asked for a $9 billion line of credit from the US that it might use in a worst-case scenario. It also expects to receive $5 billion of direct loans from a US program to support improved fuel economy.

Shares fell nearly 4 percent to $1.95, off 8 cents.

Ford said its financing arm would cut about 20 percent of its work force, or 1,200 full-time and contract jobs, as it deals with a smaller US market. It also trimmed its forecast for 2009 industry-wide sales to about 11.2 million vehicles from 12.5 million.

Ford lost $2.46 per share compared with a $1.33 per share loss a year earlier. Revenue in the quarter fell 36 percent.

Volvo, the Swedish luxury brand that Ford wants to sell, lost $736 million, down from a break-even position a year earlier. Ford offered no details on the sale process. paul.tharp@nypost.com