The paper, Dagens Industri, which did not cite its source, said four candidates were in the running to acquire the Swedish auto manufacturer: the Chinese groups Changan and Dongfend, along with a European alliance and “an unidentified” consortium.
The paper said that Ford, which wants to sell Volvo Cars for $3-4 billion, would confer in London next week with representatives from investment banks Citigroup, JP Morgan and Rothschild to discuss the deal.
It added that Renault-Nissan of France was “likely” to have been the group that asked Rothschild to represent it at the meeting.
A spokeswoman for Volvo Cars declined to comment on the newspaper report.
Ford Motor Company, despite a huge $14.57 billion loss last year, has said it still has “sufficient liquidity” to fund a turnaround plan without US government aid.
The company said in early December it was considering the sale of Volvo Cars, which it acquired in 1999 for $6.45 billion.