Tatas in final talks for Jaguar, Land Rover

US carmaker Ford said on Thursday India's Tata Motors was the front-runner to buy its European brands Jaguar and Land Rover.

"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," said Lewis Booth, Ford executive vice-president with responsibility for Europe.

The bid is expected to be priced at $1.98 billion (Rs 7,500 crore), less than half the price Ford paid to acquire these brands.

Tata Motors, the country's largest automobile company, emerged as the preferred bidder late last year on the back of strong support from the Ford union.

The company beat One Equity Partners LLC, headed by former Ford chief Jacques Nasser, and the combine of Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) and Apollo Management.

However, it will take a few weeks for the Tatas to sign an agreement.

Booth's statement said: "There is still a considerable amount of work to do 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."

A statement by Tata Motors said: "We are pleased by the progress in the discussions (with Ford) to date and very positive about the prospects of this business going forward."

The buying company is already assured by Ford of supply of all components required for the two brands. Ford supplies about 90 per cent of the components for the two brands.

The acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover will be Tata Motors' first purchase in Europe.

Ford had bought Jaguar for $2.5 billion and Land Rover from Germany's BMW for $2.7 billion.