Hard shoulder:MAZDA MOTORS sought to reassure investors last week that its three-decade alliance with Ford would survive an impending shake-out of the US motor industry.
According to bankers, cash-strapped Ford is looking to sell about 20 per cent of its Japanese affiliate, which it has part-owned since 1979, to a group of insurance and trading companies and parts suppliers. Ford holds a one-third stake in Mazda.
Hisakazu Imaki, Mazda chief executive, said at the company's quarterly earnings briefing: "The relationship is such that it's difficult to tell where Mazda ends and Ford begins. As far as I'm concerned, nothing is going to change."