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Keywords: Ford, Bid

New Delhi: The Tata's bid to takeover of iconic auto brands Jaguar and Land Rover could get a go ahead in the next few hours. Sources say Ford is focused on the Tata's bid.

According to the Wall Street Journal Ford is expected to announce the likely winner by Thursday itself.

Speculations are high that Tata Motors would emerge as the likely winner, though no deal has been signed between the two companies.

"We have said for some time that we are interested in the Jaguar Land Rover business. We can confirm that we have had positive discussions so far with Ford concerning the possible purchase of Jaguar Land Rover and we are now entering a period of more focused and detailed negotiations with Ford, “ Tata Motors spokesperson said.

“We are pleased by the progress in the discussions to date and very positive about the prospects of this business going forward,” he added.

The Ford union has been putting pressure on the management to chose Tata Motors. Reports suggest other bidders, one equity and Mahindra and Mahindra are still in the race.

Jaguar and Land Rover’s cumulative sales of 2.67 lakh vehicles last year will propel Tata's passenger vehicle sales to nearly half a million units.

Future generations of Tata's Safari, which was touted as the desi Pajero and its utility vehicle range will get a major tech boost with access to Land Rover's R&D division and Jaguar will bring a prestige factor, which is difficult to match by any another brand in India.

However, the question is, at what cost? The expected price of $ 1.8 billion will wipe out a good part of the Rs 7300 crore surplus cash lying with Tata Motors.

Even after the acquisition, Tata will have to invest in increasing the competitiveness of the brands.

Jaguar and Land Rover has an average annual R&D spend of 450 million pounds or Rs 3,600 crore as compared to Tata Motors' Rs 797 crore in 2007.