“Senior industry sources said last week that Tata was likely to name a top Ford executive in Europe as chief executive of the Jaguar-Land Rover group,” a leading daily reported on Sunday.

The current Chief Executive, Geoff Polities is an Australian car-industry veteran. “It is understood that Tata plans few immediate changes to the businesses, with the UK operations and model plans kept intact,” the report added.

Ford, the second-largest US carmaker, said on Thursday last week that it was in discussions with Tata Motors for Jaguar and Land Rover, but a final decision for the sale was yet to be taken.

However, another report in the media quoted industry sources as saying that being named preferred suitor might not mean Tata Motors has a clear field as yet.

“It is possible, Ford, which is likely to continue to supply engines and components for the cars, may retain a stake in the businesses - similar to the deal it struck with the Gulf-based consortium which bought Aston Martin - although there is no certainty this will happen,” a newspaper report said  quoting unidentified sources.

Long procedure

The report said talks could run into February as Tata needs to negotiate a settlement with pension trustees and would have to convince the unions about the safety of 15,000 British jobs accounted for by Jaguar and Land Rover.

Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra and US-based private equity firm OneEquity, headed by former Ford CEO Jacques Nasser, have also been eyeing the two brands.