Renault, the French car group which has already teamed up with Japanese marque Nissan, has opened the door for Ford to join its alliance after negotiations on a similar deal with General Motors collapsed earlier this month.
"From a strategic perspective and under the right conditions, a North American partner could make sense," a Renault spokeswoman said.
Renault's chief executive, Carlos Ghosn, had been seeking a triple alliance to counter the inexorable progress of Japan's Toyota - which plans to sell 9.8 million cars worldwide by 2008 - towards becoming the world's dominant auto group.
Ford said this month it would axe 14,000 white-collar jobs by 2008 on top of the 25,000 production posts it is shedding in north America, where it is closing 16 plants by 2008.
The group, which lost €98 million ($123m) in the second quarter and has seen its market share on its home turf eroded by Asian rivals despite deep discounts, has so far refused to comment on the likelihood of talks with Renault-Nissan.
John Fleming, the president of Ford Europe, said the company was not involved in any talks - despite suggestions from Bill Ford, chairman, that it could be open to negotiations. Ford officials indicated privately that Alan Mulally, the new chief executive brought in from Boeing, needed considerable time to get to grips with the car industry, and Ford in particular, before embarking on talks on a tie-up.
It is thought that his first task will be to decide the fate of Ford's premium automotive group which embraces Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin, with the latter already on the block for a possible sale and a decision likely next month.
Other industry executives said in Paris that Ford, considered more vulnerable now to insolvency than General Motors, would be forced to dispose of its premium division which lost €129 million ($162m) in the second quarter if it were to survive. One said it was "a crazy endeavour" to mix premium cars with middle-of-the-range vehicles.