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The Ford Motor Co is struggling to sell the Kwik-Fit car repair chain for its $1 billion (£670 million) asking price, according to The Independent on Sunday.

The company is understood to have received bids from CVC Capital Partners, Apax Partners, Paribas Affaires Industrielles and Permira. Well-placed sources, however, revealed that the offers are substantially below Ford's expectations, the newspaper said.

Employing 11,500 staff in 2,400 centres across the UK, Kwik-Fit has been on the block since February. However, Ford, advised by investment bank Goldman Sachs, is understood to be disappointed with the offers it has received for the business, and there is now speculation that the sale could be pulled

"Ford has made it pretty clear that if they don't receive any better offers, the deal could be off," a source close to one of the bidders is reported as saying.

A spokesman for Ford insisted that no decision had been taken.

"We will give guidance when we have a suitable deal in hand. At this time, we are really not putting a time frame on things," he said.

Kwik-Fit generates a profit of around £40 million on sales of £700 million.

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