DETROIT — Ford Motor is about to hand the keys for Jaguar and Land Rover to India-based Tata Motors.

The sale is expected to be announced today, according to a source briefed on the negotiations who did not want to be named because the deal had not yet been made public. Tata is to pay about $2 billion and has agreed to continue to build the vehicles in their British plants. The complicated deal also will cover continued supply of Ford-made components and deal with labor issues. Ford has been working with Tata on details of the sale for several months.

"This represents a first, with an Indian company really stepping outside as an investor with a significant couple of brands," said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research. "And it enables Ford to convert what has been a pretty extensive part of the company into some needed cash. This is really a pretty big step."

Tata Motors, a maker of light and heavy trucks and family cars, is attempting to broaden its global automotive presence.

For struggling Ford, the move sheds two more European luxury brands that had become a drag on cash. Particularly draining was Jaguar, in which Ford sank nearly $10 billion trying to revive the brand after spending $2.5 billion to buy it in a deal that closed in 1990.

The sale to Tata is central to Ford CEO Alan Mulally's strategy to turn the company around by refocusing on the automaker's core brands, which include the Ford blue-oval brand, Lincoln and Mercury.

Ford also needs cash. The automaker lost $2.7 billion in 2007 and posted a $12.7 billion loss for 2006. Mulally is aiming to reach profitability in 2009, which could be a tough goal with 2008 sales in the United States contracting.

Once Tata takes over Jaguar and Land Rover, only Volvo remains from Ford's decade-long European buying spree.

To raise money, struggling Ford in March 2007 said it would sell about 92 percent of British super-premium brand Aston Martin for $848 million to a consortium made up of David Richards, founder and chairman of motorsport and auto technology company Prodrive; John Sinders, an avid Aston Martin collector and a backer of Aston Martin Racing; and two investment companies based in Kuwait. Ford had bought 75 percent of Aston Martin in 1987 and the rest in 1994.

Although there has been speculation that Ford would sell Volvo as well, Mulally has said he intends to hang on to Volvo, at least for now.

For Tata Motors, the deal catapults its profile in the global car marketplace. The automaker is controlled by Tata Group, a privately held Indian industrial conglomerate with 98 operating companies in industries such as heavy trucks, energy, chemicals, communications and engineering, but the Tata brand is not well-known worldwide. It made a splash in January, however, when it announced it would make a $2,500 car as a replacement for mopeds, which are commonly used in developing countries to transport entire families.

Tata earned $420 million in fiscal 2007, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and sold 588,000 trucks and small cars that year.

"They are very serious, very well-funded and not inexperienced in cars," said Tom Purves, CEO of BMW North America. "They are probably the best possible owner for Jaguar and Land Rover. Actually, they are probably the only company that could come in and do this."

SKEPTICAL AT FIRST

Few Americans know of Tata, and dealers initially expressed skepticism over the deal when rumors began floating around in July that it was interested in Jaguar and Land Rover. But after learning more, some say they now are looking forward to the new owners.

"I didn't know anything about Tata, but I do now, and I'm very excited about it," said Blair Sharpe, owner of a Jaguar dealership in Grand Rapids, Mich. "It's a new chapter for Jaguar and Land Rover. (Tata) is a big company. They have lots of resources and the money to invest in new products."

Bert Boeckmann, owner of Galpin Jaguar in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, said he's encouraged by the sale. Chairman Ratan Tata has shown enthusiasm for the product. "I think they see this as a unique opportunity to gain some real recognition in the auto industry," Boeckmann said.

Mike O'Driscoll, managing director of Jaguar Cars, said he's met with Ratan Tata and is encouraged that the new owners will let the Jaguar staff run the company with little interference. Tata "will give us some space. They want us to run our business, be a premium British car company," he said.

Ford spent a fortune acquiring Jaguar and, a decade later, Land Rover — enough that the sale to Tata will end up a money-loser. Ford spent $2.5 billion on Jaguar in 1990 after getting into a bidding war of sorts with General Motors. Industry experts estimated that was about $1.2 billion more than Jaguar was worth. Land Rover cost $2.8 billion in March 2000, when Ford bought the brand from BMW.

Land Rover was the better deal. Since 1999, its U.S. sales have gone from 29,000 to a projected 46,000 by the end of 2008, according to Rebecca Lindland, an analyst at Global Insight. Jaguar's U.S. sales fell from 35,000 to 17,000 by the end of the year, she said.

Despite current sales figures, Lindland said, both brands have strong images with consumers.

"It's the brands that make it worth the money," she said.