Ford Is Still Open To Technology M&As But It's Not A Priority

In September 2013, Ford Motor Company F acquired Livio, a Ferndale, Michigan-based software development startup, to enhance in-car connectivity. After the acquisition was announced, Ford Global Technologies President and CEO Bill Coughlin told Benzinga that the company was open to additional acquisitions. "I think we've opened up a new avenue for the company -- or re-opened, I should say," Coughlin said in October 2013. "I think the company is a bit more open to looking at other possible acquisitions that would make sense. Not that we're looking, but I think we're open to it." Joe Hinrichs, Ford's EVP and president of the Americas, provided on update at the 2015 Automotive News World Congress. "It's something we continue to look at," Hinrichs told Benzinga during a press Q&A following his presentation at the Congress. "It's not at the forefront of our strategy for technology development."

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Hinrichs said that Ford will continue to look for "opportunistic ways" to acquire talent, "especially in areas where we think we don't have as much experience or engineering capability." "We're always open to that," he explained. "At the same time, what you're seeing -- having probably a bigger impact than that -- is increasing levels of partnerships and relationships evolving (with companies that weren't even on our radar screen 12 to 24 months ago) to enable the development of new technologies." Hinrichs said that is one of the "fascinating" parts of the auto industry. "We're always open to look for those things, but in many cases it's better to partner than it is to acquire because it allows that entity to remain independent and have some of its own capabilities," he added.

Microsoft Is Still 'Very Important'

There was a lot of hype surrounding the rumor that Ford would use BlackBerry Ltd BBRY -- not Microsoft Corporation MSFT -- for its next infotainment system. That rumor was confirmed in December, but that doesn't mean that Ford is done with Microsoft. "Microsoft is still a very important partner to us," said Hinrichs. "They were a big part of us making the progress we made on MyFord Touch." Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.