Ford is expected confirm its decision to to sell its luxury UK-based car marques Jaguar and Land Rover to Indian company Tata.
Tata, while relatively unknown in the UK is India's biggest vehicle maker, and is thought to have valued the Ford offshoot at around £1bn, although the industry is said to be curious as to the exact price and terms that the sale will be subjected to.
Jaguar and Land Rover employ about 16,000 staff at plants across the West Midlands and Merseyside, while the Land Rover, which is based in Solihull, West Midlands, has been profitable under Ford's ownership, its Jaguar arm with has plants at Castle Bromwich, West Midlands and Halewood, Merseyside, has never made a profit for Ford.
While Ford has never revealed its level of investment in Jaguar it is thought to have consumed £5 billion on top of a purchase cost of over £1 billiobut it is thought the two companies will require hundreds of millions with the majority injected into Jaguar over the next three to five years, and even that will not garauntee success,
Tata recently announced production of the worlds cheapest car the Nano with a selling price of £1250, while at the other end of the scale the Jaguar sells at £32000.
The car workers union, Unite, have backed the sale and in an effort to head off potential problems with its workforce Ford will inject £300m into Jaguar and Land Rover pension funds.