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DETROIT - The chairman of Toyota Motor met the chief executive of Ford Motor but they did not discuss the possibility of forming any alliance, Japan's top car-maker said yesterday.
"It was just a get-acquainted meeting," Toyota spokesman Tomomi Imai said, adding that Toyota's top executives constantly meet with counterparts at other car-makers.
Japanese business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that Ford CEO Alan Mulally and Toyota chairman Fujio Cho met last week in Tokyo as the first step in potential partnership negotiations.
The meeting was also attended by Ford executive vice-president Mark Fields, who is in charge of restructuring the car-maker's loss-making North American operations, the paper said.
Mulally may visit Japan again in January to meet Toyota executives, the report also said.
The newspaper cited unnamed sources familiar with the talks as saying Ford was interested in Toyota's hybrid and fuel-cell technologies as well as its work in reducing manufacturing and parts procurement costs.
Ford shares closed up US7c, or nearly 1 per cent, at US$7.49 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Toyota shares rose more than 2.5 per cent to a record 7980, in line with gains in other top Japanese car-makers' shares as the US dollar held near a two-month high against the yen.
Analysts were sceptical that Toyota and Ford would agree to an outright merger or a substantial joint investment.
"I don't think you're looking at any kind of alliance here," IRN analyst Erich Merkle said. "You have to ask yourself what would be in it for Toyota. They're doing pretty well on their own."
- REUTERS
