Carlos Ghosn in Tokyo on Thursday. (Reuters)

Tokyo, Oct. 27 (Reuters): The head of Nissan Motor Co and Renault SA, Carlos Ghosn, said now is not the right time to consider a potential alliance with Ford Motor Co but stopped short of ruling out discussions in the not-too-distant future.

“I don’t think the time is adequate for us,” Ghosn said in an interview on Thursday when asked about tie-up possibilities with the ailing US automaker. “First we need to prove and show in the next months about the growth (potential) of Nissan, mostly in the US market.”

Ghosn, credited with steering Nissan out of bankruptcy in 1999, added that French partner Renault was also heading into a critical phase as it prepared for an aggressive product offensive next summer.

“After this, we may start to consider any opportunity,” Ghosn said, suggesting the door was still open for a link-up with Ford after talks on a possible three-way alliance with General Motors Corp fell through earlier this month.

At a news conference earlier, Ghosn sought to dampen talk that a third partner was necessary for the existing Franco-Japanese alliance to continue growing, repeating he was not taking any initiative to start new discussions.

But Ghosn said a healthy alliance was effective in “adding value” to all parties involved if done right. He noted that Nissan and Renault had expanded their value, measured by market capitalization, more than any other auto maker in percentage terms, over the seven years of their alliance.

“Nissan comes in number one, and Renault comes in number two. It’s not a coincidence,” he said.

In a presentation of its first-half financial results earlier, Nissan said its market value had grown more than five-fold to $52.3 billion since March 1999, while Renault’s had more than tripled to $32.6 billion.

The combined value of the major Japanese, European and US automakers, meanwhile, had grown 27 per cent during the same period, it said.

Nissan, held 44 per cent by Renault, reported a 4.9 per cent fall in operating profit for the July-September second quarter on Thursday as sales fell in every major market. It kept its full-year financial forecasts unchanged, promising a comeback in the October-March second half of its financial year.