Mulally: No need for partnership

LOS ANGELES – Alan Mulally says Ford Motor Co. doesn’t need to partner with another global automaker.

“Any kind of a linkup would be a distraction,” Ford CEO Mulally told reporters at a dinner Tuesday night before the Los Angeles Auto Show.

Ford’s biggest opportunity is to leverage its own wide flung assets around the globe, Mulally said. That’s why he’s working to better combine product and business strategy across the company’s three main business units in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

“The real synergy for Ford is to integrate Ford” Mulally said. “Up until now, it hadn’t been the plan. But it’s the plan now.”

Mulally said he thinks Ford will still be independent in five years.