Autoblog

Previous rumors that Indian automaker Tata was chosen by Ford from among a group of bidders to buy Jaguar and Land Rover have proven to be true, as both Tata and Ford announced earlier today that they have moved into advanced negotiations on the sale of the two British marques.

Although both companies were quick to point out that there are still a number of steps before the deal is finalized, informed insiders have confirmed that the two competing bidders, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd and One Equity Partners LLC, have effectively been rejected in favor of Tata.

Factory workers at Jaguar and Land Rover in England were reportedly informed shortly before the announcement went public. Ford, the biggest seller of automobiles in the UK, reportedly wants the new owner of Jaguar and Land Rover to retain the bulk of their existing 15,300-strong British work force, and Jaguar's principal union has expressed its preference for Tata.

Although Ford needs the cash injection from selling off its subsidiaries, the automaker is anticipated to pursue a similar relationship with Jaguar and Land Rover that it maintains with Aston Martin: continuing to supply components, including engines, even after the divisions are sold off.

Follow the jump to read the official statement from Ford of Europe and PAG chairman Lewis Booth.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]

Only days before heading to bankruptcy court, Italian engineering firm and carrozzeria Bertone revealed that it was about to pull a last-minute trick out of its sleeve in an announcement later that day. But when the announcement didn't come, the industry was left wondering if, after 95 years in business, Bertone was about to slip away.

The company's chairwoman and family scion Lili Bertone, however, announced last night that her company would be sold to Gruppo Prototipo chief Domenico Reviglio. Likewise based in Turin, Gruppo Prototipo focuses on testing pre-production vehicle prototypes. It owns the famous Nardo high-speed test facility, and since the late '90s has been the sub-contractor for most of the Fiat Group's testing requirements.

The announcement came as a surprise to the Italian business community, which widely believed negotiations with business mogul Gianmario Rossignolo were near conclusion. Previous negotiations with Fiat had fallen through, and Bertone has a workforce of 1,300 to support despite the lack of contracts to sustain the company. The Italian government, meanwhile, has opted to extend the two-year financial protection it had granted Bertone for an additional two months.

[Source: Italiaspeed]

Click image for photo gallery of the Bugatti in Greenwich

Don't go quoting us on this, but this has got to be one of the most expensive barn finds we've ever seen. Christie's sold this 1938 Bugatti for a staggering $852,500 at the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance earlier this summer, more than twice the highest pre-sale estimate and close to the price of a new Bugatti.

The car was admitted to the Pebble Beach preservation class, and when its new owner gets it up to spec, it'll undoubtedly be the beauty it once was. The 1938 Type 57C you see here is actually a bit of an amalgamation of two Bugattis that were both owned by the same pre-war collector. The chassis itself belonged to a Type 57 Stelvio cabriolet with bodywork by Gangloff, a coachbuilder based in Colmar near the Bugatti factory in Molsheim in the French region of Alsace. In time for display at the French pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair in New York, the body was switched for that of the Type 57C Atalante (not to be confused with the more rare and iconic Atlantic).

Now of course there's value in classics, but as far as vintage motorcarriages go, this one's in pretty bad shape. Having sat in storage since 1962, the paint is chipped and faded, the chrome is rusty, the tires are history, the engine's grimy and the leather is worn out. A handyman's dream, let's call it. An $850k handyman's dream.

[Source: AutoWeek, Photos: Alex Nunez]

The deal is done, and it happened exactly the way everyone expected it to. Ford Motor Company has sold Aston Martin to a consortium led by Prodrive founder David Richards, Aston Martin collector John Sinders, and Investment Dar and Adeem Investment Co, two international investment companies headquartered in Kuwait. The sale price is for $925 million, and Ford will retain a $77 million stake in the sports car maker, which pegs the brand's worth at just over $1 billion which means Ford will actually get only $848 million for Aston Martin. Ford sounds pleased with the deal in the press release it issued this morning, stating Aston Martin is better off with a company that offer it more capital to work with. The deal is scheduled to hit the balance sheet in the second quarter, which means we might be seeing Ford temporarily in the black then because of this one-time special gain.

[Source: Ford]