Ford is expected to seal the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata, the Indian conglomerate, next week after the American carmaker recently agreed to pump hundreds of millions of pounds into the pension fund to smooth the process.

The deal is expected to be welcomed by unions, who believe that there is no immediate threat to British jobs or manufacturing.

The two sides, which have been in exclusive talks since the beginning of the year, are expected to sign a deal worth up to $2 billion (£1 billion) next Wednesday or shortly afterwards. Ford has pledged to pay £300 million into the pension fund to clear its deficit. It has also given assurances over the long-term supply of engines and some other components to the two marques to ease union fears about their future. Tata is also thought to have pledged that production will remain in the UK in the near term.

Ford uses engines for Jaguar and Land Rover from its engine factories in Bridgend, South Wales, and Dagenham, Essex.

It is Tata's second big investment in Britain, after its purchase of Corus, the Anglo-Dutch steelmaker, last year, and is its first big move into the Western car industry. At present Jaguar and Land Rover use some Corus steel. Tata makes lorries and cars in India and recently unveiled its Nano people's car, which retails at £1,300.

The sale marks the end of nearly 20 years' association with Jaguar for Ford, after it bought the iconic British brand in 1989 for $2.5 billion, and eight years' ownership of Land Rover, which it bought in 2000 for $2.75 billion when BMW split up the Rover group. Ford has been pushed into a sale of some of its most respected brands by a need to stem spiralling losses after a tough market in the United States and, to a lesser extent, Europe.

In 2006 it recorded its worst ever losses at $12.7 billion. Last year, when it sold its flagship Aston Martin business, it pared back losses to $2.7 billion. Alan Mulally, the chief executive who took over Ford 18 months ago, decided to sell the British brands to raise cash but also to allow Ford to concentrate on its core, blue-badged cars. Ford had grouped its luxury brands into a Premier Automotive Group division, which also included Volvo, a marque that it is retaining.

The recovery of Land Rover after heavy investment was always weighed down by losses at Jaguar, a brand that it failed to revive barring the success of some individual models. Ford tried to turn Jaguar into a volume producer and used the Ford Mondeo platform as a base for its X-type Jaguar, which failed to sell in large numbers. Tata is believed to be committed to developing new Jaguar models, which are already in the pipeline.

Industry observers believe that there may need to be some rationalisation of Jaguar and Land Rover's facilities in the medium term because of the number of plants that the brands have. The most likely factory under threat could be Castle Bromwich, which makes the Jaguar range excluding the X-type. Apart from Castle Bromwich's new XF, the other cars that it produces - the XJ and the XK - are made in relatively small numbers.

Tata was backed in its bid by British unions after they decided that it had the best long-term plan for the business. At the start, the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover attracted a large amount of private equity interest, but this fell off in stages until there were two main players - Tata and One Equity Partners, which was led by Jacques Nasser, the former Ford chief.

The two marques had to be sold together because Ford had merged a number of their operations and supplies. The official announcement is being timed for after the Geneva motor show, so that the two companies can try to promote their products at the key European showcase.

Jaguar and Land Rover: the nuts and bolts

Jaguar and Land Rover shared facilities

Halewood, Merseyside

— Assembly plant makes Jaguar X-type and Land Rover Freelander

— Employees: 2,100

Gaydon, Warwickshire

— Design and engineering, marketing, sales and service

— Employees: 2,890

Jaguar facilities

Castle Bromwich

— Assembly plant for XF, XJ and XK

— Employees: 2,200

Browns Lane

— Veneer manufacturing, heritage centre

— Employees: 490

Whitley

— Design, research and development

— Employees: 1,980

Land Rover facilities

Solihull

— Assembly plant makes Range Rover, Land Rover Discovery and Defender

— Employees: 5,730

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