Is Ford trying to cut a deal of its own with Renault?

Renault had no comment today in response to a Wall Street Journal report that Ford CEO Bill Ford had called the French automaker's boss Carlos Ghosn about a possible cooperation. The WSJ article suggested Mr. Ford recently called Ghosn to say that if the Renault-Nissan alliance decided not to continue alliance talks with General Motors, Ghosn should consider talking to Ford. "We have no information on any phone conversations between Ford and Mr Ghosn and cannot comment on the report," said a spokeswoman for Renault. In July, GM and Renault-Nissan said they would explore an alliance. Ford is rumored to have contacted Mr. Ghosn late last year -- long before the GM-Renault alliance talks -- about hiring him as CEO of Ford. Any such deal, however, never materialized.