India’s Tata Motors Ltd. is in advanced talks to buy Ford Motor Co.’s Jaguar and Land Rover, which have their U.S. headquarters in Irvine.
Ford said Thursday that Tata is the front-runner to buy the British auto brands and talks are at a “detailed level.”
Talks are expected to continue for the next few weeks, according to Ford. Jaguar and Land Rover are expected to sell for about $3 billion.
Ford said in November it wanted to sell Jaguar and Land Rover by early this year to cut debt and to rid itself of the poor-performing brands.
One Equity Partners of New York and Mahindra & Mahindra, an Indian auto group working with New York private equity firm Apollo Alternative Assets, were earlier bidders for the British brands, according to reports.
It’s unclear what the sale will mean for the Irvine operation.
Jaguar and Land Rover are part of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group, which has about 500 workers in Irvine and yearly sales of about $160 billion.
In March, Ford sold a majority stake in Premier Automotive Group’s Aston Martin for $848 million.
Volvo, the strongest part of Premier Automotive Group, has been the subject of sale rumors. But there’s been no confirmation from Ford that the Swedish brand is up for sale.
