UPDATE 1-UAW says in talks with Ford on competitiveness

* UAW's chief negotiator says talks with Ford ongoing

* Uncertain if negotiations will result in new contract (Adds comments from King; details on buyouts)

DEARBORN, Mich, June 23 (Reuters) - The United Auto Workers union is in ongoing talks with Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research) aimed at ensuring the No. 2 U.S. automaker remains competitive with domestic rivals that have been reorganized with federal funding, a union official said on Tuesday.

"We are always in meetings with Ford," UAW Vice President Bob King told reporters on the sidelines of an event at the automaker's engineering campus.

"Are those formal negotiations? You could say yes or no."

King, the union official who led a round of concession talks at Ford earlier this year, said it was uncertain whether the talks would result in a formal set of contract changes that would have to be taken to UAW workers for ratification.

The comments by the UAW's chief Ford negotiator were the first update on the union's talks with Ford since autoworkers ratified a set of deeper concessions for its cross-town rivals in deals brokered by the Obama administration.

Ford, the only U.S. automaker that has avoided bankruptcy and a reorganization under the oversight of the Obama administration, has estimated the concessions ratified by the union in March will save it some $500 million per year.

But Ford's rivals General Motors Corp GMGMQ.PK and Chrysler have both won agreements that prohibit the union from striking when negotiations on a new contract begin in 2011.