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03/07/2008 05:26. With its various British brands now sold, will Ford Motor Co. sell off the last of its foreign brands, closing the books for good on its once-promising Premier Automotive Group?

Numerous reports have appeared, in recent weeks, suggesting Ford would like to offload its Swedish brand, Volvo Cars, many of those reports pointing to Renault SA as a strongly-interested party. But if so, Ford is keeping any discussions with the French maker away from Volvo , which "does not have any knowledge" of such talks, the Swedish maker's CEO, Steven Armstrong, was quoted saying to the wire service, Reuters.

However, Reuters quoted sources "familiar with the matter," who insisted that preliminary conversations had taken place between Renault and the cash-strapped Ford , which has raised much-needed... // TheCarConnection.com