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Ford has given the clearest indication so far that the new owner of both of its Jaguar and Land Rover brands will be India's Tata Motors.
In a statement that effectively identifies Tata as Ford's preferred bidder for the British car-makers, executive vice president of Ford of Europe Lewis Booth told Autocar: "Ford is committed to focused negotiations at a more detailed level with Tata Motors concerning the potential sale of the combined Jaguar Land Rover business.”
"There is still a considerable amount of work to do," he went on "and while no final decision has been made, we will proceed with further substantive discussions with Tata Motors over the forthcoming weeks with a view to securing an agreement that is in the best interests of all parties concerned."
Indian group Mahindra and Mahindra and US private equity group One Equity were still considered to be in the running before Christmas, but it seems that neither outfit is offering as favourable a deal to Ford as Tata, which could be named as the new owner of Jaguar and Land Rover as early as this month's Detroit motor show.
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