Toyota clarifies on alliance with Ford

Toyota clarifies on alliance with Ford

NAGOYA, Japan (Reuters): Japan's largest automaker Toyota Motor Corp said on Monday it had no plans for an equity tie-up with Ford Motor Co but did not rule out some kind of technical alliance.

The statement followed an announcement last Thursday by Ford, the world's second-largest automaker, that it had held high-level talks with Toyota about forming a partnership or alliance to cut costs.

"We have no plans for an equity tie-up with Ford and we are not currently in talks with Ford on any technical collaboration," Toyota President Fujio Cho told a news conference.

"But we would not deny the future possibility of alliances on technical issues," he said, mentioning environmental technology in particular.

Analysts said any alliance between Toyota and Ford on environmental technology would not be intended as a way to compete with other big automakers but rather to establish a standard.

"It seems that they would want to create a de facto standard, possibly in cooperation with other big players to prevent smaller companies from coming in," Daiwa Institute of Research analyst Masato Ogasawara said.

While other Japanese automakers have gone in for strategic partnerships and capital tie-ups, Toyota has always refrained from entering into equity alliances.

Automakers worldwide have formed more strategic alliances in recent years to cut research and development costs, to meet government regulations on fuel economy and emissions, and to cut costs on parts and supplies.

Such alliances have taken on added importance as the auto industry begins to slow in the United States and Europe, analysts said.