Ford weighs car exports from U.S. - CEO in paper

FRANKFURT Nov 2 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (F.N) is considering exporting cars made in the United States as a way to exploit its manufacturing flexibility, global vehicle platforms and the weak dollar, industry paper Automotive News reported on Monday.

"It's all a business decision, and it's part of our plan to be flexible and be able to move up and down much easier, which allows us to support different markets," it quoted Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally as saying in an interview.

It quoted sources as saying a plan was forming to export the Kuga crossover model from a U.S. production site.

Automotive News said the Kuga is now assembled in Germany for sale in Europe. In late 2011, Ford plans to start assembly of the next generation of the vehicle in Kentucky. It will replace the Escape crossover.

In addition to the U.S. models, Ford is expected to build European-specification Kugas in Kentucky for export, it quoted the sources as saying.

In the longer term, Ford will have the potential to export a wide range of vehicles from plants in North America, it added.

The Fiesta subcompact, Ford's biggest seller in Europe, will go into production at a plant in Cuautitlan, Mexico, next year.

On other subjects, Mulally said:

"Our plan clearly is to improve the balance sheet going forward, and the most important thing is to improve the profitability of our basic operations, which we continue to do every quarter."

He said Ford did not expect U.S. light-vehicle sales to return to the 16 million-plus unit level that dominated for most of this decade. (Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Andrew Callus)