Although Ford spokesman Tom Hoyt denies the rumor, speculation in the auto world is rife that the troubled automaker has opened talks for the sale of its Volvo unit with Swedish carmaker OEM.

With Land Rover and Jaguar already on the sale block and Aston Martin sold in months past, the sale of Volvo would leave Ford with nothing but their own badged cars and Lincoln in the United States.

In the 1980s Ford began acquiring premium brands, but slumping sales, record losses on the books, and impending contentious negotiations with the United Auto Workers this fall have forced the Detroit giant to take drastic moves.

Although Volvo has proved profitable for Ford, industry analysts predict that selling the brand could bring in as much as $8 billion. Reputedly the Land Rover / Jaguar sale will garner only $1 billion.

Volvo constitutes a larger business operation than the other two brands combined, employing some 27,000 workers to Land Rover and Jaguar's 16,000.

Interim performance figures for Ford will be released next week and at this time the company will only say that it is reviewing its "options" for Volvo.

The soon-to-be released numbers will, for the first time, reflect the influence of chief executive Alan Mulally on Ford's overall status. Chairman Bill Ford brought Mulally in last fall when a series of recovery attempts proved unsuccessfully.

In 2006 the company posted losses totaling a staggering $12.7 billion. Ford has cited high union wages as one factor that hampers its ability to compete successfully with Asian and other foreign brands.