Ford wants to have no part of Jaguar or Land Rover following its eventual sale of the Premier Auto Group labels. The announcement was made by Ford’s Euro boss Lewis Booth who also revealed the Blue Oval hopes to have the deal completed by early next year at the latest and expects all potential bids to be in within the end of this month.

"We're selling the business because we need the money and we need the focus," Booth said. "So, we're not going out there with the intention of keeping an equity stake." Ford did retain a small stake in Aston Martin when it sold it earlier this year and may do the same with Volvo, if that brand is eventually sold. According to Booth, Ford is continuing its "strategic review" of Volvo and hopes to finish by the end of the year reports The Detroit News.

Experts are doubtful that Ford would be able to pull off a clean getaway from Jaguar and Land Rover. Both brands are heavily integrated with Ford and share many components with the rest of the Ford Empire, meaning and new buyer will still need to supply parts for them.