DETROIT -- The North American Ford Fiesta coming in early 2010 will share 78 percent of its components with its European sibling, said Tony Brown, Ford Motor Co.'s group vice president for global purchasing.

Ford hopes to achieve an even higher percentage of common sourcing for its larger cars when it brings them to the United States from Europe in 2010 and beyond, he said.

The North American and European versions of the Focus will share 90 percent of their parts, up from approximately 20 percent for the current editions, Mark Fields, Ford's president of The Americas, has said previously. The Focus is due to follow the Fiesta later in 2010.

Sharing components drives complexity out of the system and keeps costs in check, Brown said.

He was speaking at a reception Wednesday honoring him at the start of the ninth annual Auto Symposium held by the Detroit bureau of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. The group gave Brown its "Keep Hope Alive" award.

In other remarks, he also said that there are going to be more Ford suppliers put on watch this year than last year. Brown would not give a number, but says they are in segments "across the board."

"Those who have highly leveraged balance sheets are going to be more highly watched than those who do not," he said.

One trouble area he mentioned was plastics and moldings.

Commenting on the credit markets, he said that while Ford's product plans are all funded, the $25 billion loan to the auto industry just passed by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush will help suppliers to develop new technologies that will benefit Ford and will help Ford to accelerate some of its programs.

"Our product plans are funded," he said. "None of Ford's product plans hinge on it."

When asked if he expects to see more supplier bankruptcies and liquidations in the next year, he said yes, "but that's not a bad thing, because the industry is oversaturated."