Fiat to partner with Tata in Jaguar & Land Rover bid?

Update 2: A Fiat official has now confirmed they will be working with Tata to provide "technical support" to their bid. Jaguar owned by the Indians and Italians. Who'd have thought?

Update: Fiat has released a statement denying any involvement in buying Jaguar and/or Land Rover. However, this is still a very fluid situation so watch this space.

When news first leaked about Ford possibly selling its Jaguar and Land Rover labels, Italy’s Fiat was one of the first carmakers rumored to be a potential bidder. Those few reports suggested Fiat was interested in Jaguar because of its large RWD platforms and the interest in Land Rover stemmed from Fiat’s aim to launch new SUV products.

Since then, most reports have suggested the primary bidders consist of Indian manufacturers Tata and Mahindra, as well as several major private equity firms. According to AFX, Fiat now wants to partner with Tata in its bid for the Jaguar and Land Rover labels and could potentially pay up to $1.5 billion for the privilege. The source claims that Fiat is only interested in acquiring a minority stake.

Fiat and Tata are already in bed together surrounding a deal to produce Fiat-branded cars in India. Tata is also keen to penetrate the European market and is likely to source a range of frugal engines from Fiat in preparation for its scheduled launch into the UK later this year.