Ford says has no interest in Chrysler brands

Ford Motor Co has no interest in acquiring any Chrysler assets or brands if the automaker is forced into bankruptcy, the president of Ford's Americas unit said on Wednesday.

"We're focused right now on merging Ford around the world right now. We're focusing on Ford, so no," Mark Fields said on the sidelines of the New York International Auto Show.

Chrysler, about 80 percent-controlled by Cerberus Capital Management, was given until the end of April by President Barack Obama's task force to complete an alliance with Fiat.

The president asked Chrysler and rival General Motors Corp to accelerate their turnaround efforts and brace for possible bankruptcy, saying bailout funds will be limited and poor decision-making will not be excused.

Fields said the automaker did not feel "disadvantaged" by the $17.4 billion in emergency government loans that were extended to rivals GM and Chrysler.

Ford is the only U.S. automaker not operating with emergency U.S. government funds and has said it does not see any need to seek U.S. aid.

"We do have a significant amount of liquidity and based on our assumptions ... we have no plans to access any of the emergency taxpayer funds," Fields said.

Ford moved ahead of GM and Chrysler in restructuring by slashing automotive debt by 38 percent, or $9.9 billion. It was also the first to reach an agreement with the United Auto Workers to slash cash payments for a union retiree healthcare trust.