WASHINGTON - A trip to Japan last week by Ford Motor Co.'s Alan Mulally indicates the new chief executive may look to rival Toyota Motor Corp. in his search for answers for the ailing auto maker, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Mulally and Mark Fields, president of Ford's Americas operations, met in Tokyo with Toyota Chairman Fujio Cho and other executives.

People familiar with the matter described the talks as initial and broad-based and played down their significance, with one person close to Toyota saying the Japanese auto maker has "enough on (its) plate" without a Ford alliance, said the report.

Mulally, who joined Ford a few months ago from Boeing Co., has a long relationship with Toyota. While the head of Boeing's commercial-aircraft division, he studied Toyota's lean manufacturing process and tried to emulate it. He is also familiar with Japanese politics and industry, and has visited the country about 50 times, according to the report.

But industry observers consider a takeover unlikely because of the problems plaguing the US auto maker as well as the Ford family's control of the company.

Still, word of the meeting comes amid sweeping changes in the global auto industry, and talks involving purchasing alliances and technology-sharing agreements have proliferated as auto makers grapple with rising competition and global overcapacity, said the report.