Tata in Talks to Buy Ford's Jaguar, Land Rover Units

(Bloomberg) --Ford Motor Co. selected Tata Motors Ltd. as the preferred bidder for Jaguar and Land Rover, putting India's largest truckmaker in a position to take over two of the best-known luxury auto brands.

Tata and the U.S. automaker ``will proceed with further substantive discussions,'' Ford Executive Vice President Lewis Booth said in a statement today. ``There is still a considerable amount of work to do.''

Buying the iconic British brands would give Mumbai-based Tata a presence outside Asia and provide access to new technology. A sale would allow Ford, the world's third-largest automaker, to focus on revamping its North American operations, the biggest cause of a record $12.6 billion loss in 2006.

``Tata gains an entry into the prestige market, although the snob factor says an Indian Jaguar will be a tough sell,'' said Stephen Pope, chief global markets strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald in London. Ford, of Dearborn, Michigan, may get 1 billion pounds ($1.98 billion) from a sale, he estimated.

The talks comes less than a year after the 139-year-old Tata group, led by Harvard-educated Ratan Tata, bought steelmaker Corus Group Plc. for $12.9 billion. That made Tata Steel Ltd. one of the world's top 10 steel producers.

 

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