Navistar CEO interested in GM unit

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The top executive of Navistar International Corp (NAV.N) said on Monday that he remained interested in the possibility of acquiring General Motors' GM.N medium-duty truck unit -- though he has no interest in the facility where those vehicles are made.

Speaking at the Reuters Manufacturing Summit in Chicago, Dan Ustian, Navistar's chairman, chief executive and president, said of the GM unit "we're always looking to grow and that compliments us pretty well."

But he stressed that any agreement that required Navistar to keep open GM's medium-duty truck plant in Flint, Michigan would probably never get inked.

"We don't need another plant," he said. "Anything that had that part of it would be difficult for us."

Indeed, Ustian said that if the current downturn continues, Navistar might be forced to close or curtail production at one of its two heavy-duty truck plants in Canada and Mexico.

"Now, what we have to do is rationalize, on an ongoing basis, whether we need both of those facilities," he said.

"We're waiting a little bit longer to see how the economy materializes. You can expect us to do something there yet this year."

Navistar struck a tentative deal in 2007 to buy General Motors medium-duty truck business -- but the pact expired last summer without a deal being reached.

The deal was seen as a way for Navistar to extend its medium-duty market dominance and for GM to raise cash.

Warrenville, Illinois-based Navistar made it clear from the start that it planned to move production away from the Flint, Michigan, plant where hundreds of UAW workers currently assemble GM's medium-duty trucks.

The original sale collapsed because GM was unable to keep a commitment it made to the union to bring replacement work to the truck plant once Navistar moved production out.

Since then, GM's troubles have only multiplied as it has struggled to restructure its operations.

GM had planned to move production of a super-heavy-duty pickup to Flint. But with the economy sagging, demand for full-size pickup trucks has declined sharply and prompted all the leading Detroit automakers to cut production of the vehicles.

During his appearance at the Reuters Summit, Ustian also said that Navistar's joint venture with Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) was still on track, though legal papers had not been finalized.

He said the two companies were working on severe-service trucks for the U.S. market that would be built by Navistar but branded by Caterpillar.

Ustian said Navistar's annual military vehicles sales, which have gone from zero to $4 billion in just a couple of years, were not suffering as a result of the global downturn.