Ford could soon sell Jaguar and Land Rover, its premier British marques, after the American car giant appointed banks to examine a sale.

The move comes only months after Ford said that its Premier Automotive Group, which links the luxury marques, was performing well.

News that Ford has appointed HSBC, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley throws the businesses into fresh uncertainty less than a year after a series of reviews at Ford questioned their viability and then appeared to reprieve them.

The expected sale of the brands comes after Ford sold Aston Martin for £450 million to a venture capital consortium led by the racing driver David Richards.

Jaguar and Land Rover are expected to be sold together because they have been heavily integrated by Ford. They share components and production facilities. Premier Automotive, which also includes Volvo of Sweden, saw its losses more than treble last year to $327 million from $89 million in 2005.

Last year Ford recorded the worst losses in its 103-year history at $12.7 billion, equal to a loss of $4,380 on every car it sold. The first-quarter profits from Premier Automotive improved to $191 million this year from $129 million for the same period in 2006.

Yesterday Jon Moulton, the head of the venture capital group Alchemy, said at first he would be interested in bidding. Later Mr Moulton, who failed in an attempt to buy Rover seven years ago, pulled back, saying that he was only showing an emotional interest.

A sale of Land Rover and Jaguar is likely to attract the interest of other leading car companies, unlike Aston Martin, which was not viewed as a key asset.

Premier Automotive has been dogged by the underperformance of Jaguar, which is loss-making. Land Rover, meanwhile, is believed to have been strong. However, Ford appeared to give Jaguar backing last year when it invested $1.2 billion into the operation.

Jaguar stumbled after Ford, which bought the brand in 1989, attempted to move it into the volume market with the cheaper X-type model. The car, which is made at Halewood, was poorly received because of similarities to Ford’s Mondeo, with which it shared some design and parts. Together Jaguar and Land Rover employ about 19,000 at three main sites: Solihull and Castle Brom-wich in the West Midlands and Halewood on Merseyside.

Ford declined to confirm or deny an impending sale, describing the idea as speculation.

Alan Mulally, Ford’s chief executive, is under pressure to turn around the huge losses at the business. Ford is cutting 12 per cent of its US workforce.

He set out a business plan last year when the sale of Aston Martin was announced. But analysts believe that the plan may now be in shreds because of poor sales in North America.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive