Ford has confirmed it is in talks with a number of parties regarding the sale of Volvo.

The carmaker did not say who although according to Swedish reports they are Chinese companies.

These include Chery Automobile, Dongfeng Motor Group and Chongqing Changan Automobile.

A Ford spokesman said it was talking in more detail to these interested parties about the future of Volvo.

Volvo made a loss of $736m (£504m)in the last three months of 2008, while Ford's overall loss for the whole year totalled $14.6bn (10bn).