JCB's chairman says Jaguar has "great potential"

JCB chairman Anthony Bamford said he thought Jaguar had "great potential" which was "not being realised".

But analysts say buying Jaguar might entail also buying loss-making Landrover, since they are closely tied within Ford's Premier Automotive Group.

Ford has found it hard trying to make money from Jaguar since it bought the firm in 1989 for �1.6bn ($3.03bn).

At the end of 2005, Ford said it had put an extra �1.2bn into its UK subsidiary Jaguar to keep it afloat.

In an interview with the Financial Times on Thursday, Mr Bamford suggested ways that Jaguar would need to be downsized, but later declined to comment further on such suggestions.

In early August, Ford predicted that its Premier Automotive Group (PAG) would not see profits in 2006.

Ford - like its US rival General Motors - has suffered lower sales, as higher petrol prices have led consumers to opt for more efficient Japanese cars.

Ford declined to comment on JCB's expression of interest and said it was "pure speculation".