The No. 2 U.S. automaker's top executive told Reuters after a speech at an automotive technology conference that Ford remained interested in Kia "at the right price."

Hyundai was named the winning bidder for Kia and Asia Motors Corp Ltd on Monday, beating out Korea's Daewoo Motor Co. Ford's bid was rejected because its debt writeoff request was deemed too high.

Hyundai chairman Chung Mong-kyu said the Korean automaker would seek investment from foreign firms, including Ford.

South Korea's OECD representative told Reuters that South Korea wanted Ford's bid to win. Soogil Young said the Korean government was encouraging Hyundai to join up with Ford, something Trotman did not immediately dismiss.

"We're open to almost anything if it makes sound business sense," said Trotman, who willretire at the end of the year.

Ford CEO-designate Jacques Nasser said in England that the U.S. automaker was not keen on a partnership, but would seek talks with Hyundai about the future of the 16.9 per cent stake in Kia it holds in combination with its Japanese affiliate, Mazda Motor Corp.

Some analysts have suggested Kia's creditors, many of whom wanted Ford to win the auction because of its superior financial strength, may still reject Hyundai's bid. Burnham Securities analyst David Healy said, however, Ford would not pursue Kia unless its debt was reduced further, labour unrest in Korea was addressed and Ford could move its own executives into power at Kia.

"The bottomline is that Kia is a can of worms," he said." But with enough debt written off and Ford given a free hand to develop models and export from Korea to the rest of Southeast Asia over time, it could mean a pretty good foothold in that part of the world."

Ford said it was interested in maintaining a customer relationship with Kia, whichmakes the Ford Aspire car.

In his speech, Trotman said the pending merger of No. 3 U.S. automaker Chrysler Corp. and Germany's Daimler-Benz AG was just the beginning and that consolidation would continue until only six large automakers remained; two each in the United States, Europe and Japan.

He said the financial troubles in the rest of the world would not stop the North American and Western European economies from nearly matching this year's strong performance in 1999.