RUMOURS that a collaboration agreement between Ford and Nissan has hit a difficult patch have been denied. An announcement that the contract under which Nissan's Spanish factory builds the Ford Maverick would not be renewed did not mean the companies no longer wanted to work with each other, said Nissan Motor Espana SA spokesman Martin Fabregat.

'The contract ends next year and we simply haven't made up our minds as to how we proceed from there. We will continue building the Terrano II until a new model replaces it in three years time,' he said.

A Ford Espana SA spokesman said: 'We are not worried about the ending of the contract to build the Maverick. But we are concerned about what happens after next year. We need this product, and we want it to remain in our range.'