• Detroit Free Press, Wednesday, December 27, 2006 12:15 PM

Ford CEO Alan Mulally traveled to Japan last week to meet with Toyota Chairman Fujio Cho and other top executives at the automaker. Industry analysts said it is much more likely that Ford and Toyota would work together on a specific issue--such as a powertrain technology--than explore a broad-ranging alliance or outright merger.

Ford could benefit from Toyota's hybrid technology, says Erich Merkle, an analyst with IRN Inc. Toyota could profit from Ford's truck platform. It will begin selling its first full-size truck in February--the all-new Tundra--but it still does not have larger heavy-duty versions, such as the Ford F-250 and F-350.

Ford and Toyota also could find mutual benefit in sharing plant capacity in North America, Merkle says. Ford is shutting down plants in North America, while Toyota is looking to open more.

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