"Mazda" and "Ford" reaffirm continuance of alliance

Mazda Motor Corporation President Takashi Yamanouchi said he and Alan Mulally, president of Ford Motor Co. of the United States, agreed last month to continue the capital and business alliance between the two automakers.

Yamanouchi told he paid a call on Mulally at the Ford headquarters in December, and the two chief executive officers confirmed there is no change to their firms' ties, even as a series of realignments is taking place in the global auto industry.

Among such moves, Suzuki Motor Corp. and Germany's Volkswagen AG announced a capital tie-up in December. In the talks between Mazda and Ford, the U.S. carmaker said it intends to maintain its approximately 11 percent stake in Mazda and explained that its partial sale of Mazda stocks in the fall of 2008 was due to Ford's financial condition and not meant to change the two firms' strategic relationship, according to Yamanouchi.

Yamanouchi said the ''strategic alliance'' between Mazda and Ford ''will not waver,'' and added that the two sides would cooperate in areas that were mutually beneficial.

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