Ford ties to auto supplier Magna remain for now

WIXOM, Michigan (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said it was comfortable working with auto parts supplier Magna International despite its becoming a direct rival after leading the group that is favored to buy General Motor's Opel line.

"We have talked to them about it," Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr told reporters on Thursday during an announcement about the redevelopment of a former plant site here in Wixom, some 30 miles northwest of Detroit.

"I have talked to them personally about it and I think for now we feel very comfortable with it," he said.

Magna International is the leader of a group that has agreed to acquire a 55 percent stake in General Motors Co's Opel brand, which would make the major parts supplier a mass market auto producer and direct competitor to Ford.

"They are an excellent supplier for us," Ford said of the Canadian auto parts supplier. "We have a very good relationship, we have a great partnership and they have clearly said that they will respect intellectual property and we believe them."

He added that Magna would be a good operator for the Opel and Vauxhall brands and taken seriously as a competitor.

Ford, the only large U.S. automaker not to reorganize through bankruptcy in 2009 with U.S. government support, is now competing with the newly emerged GM and Chrysler that have sharply reduced their debt through the court process.

Ford said he would not trade places with GM or Chrysler, when asked whether their government support had put his family's automaker at a competitive disadvantage.

"We pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps and we feel very good about it, our employees feel very good about it, our dealers feel good about it," Ford said.

(Reporting by David Bailey, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)