A group led by former Ford Motor Co executives has submitted a revised bid this week for Ford's Volvo unit and hopes to beat the offer by Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the situation.

The group, called Crown consortium, is led by former Ford director Michael Dingman and former Ford and Chrysler LLC executive Shamel Rushwin, the paper said.

Crown had been seen as an underdog at best but had been encouraged by Ford if it could find the necessary funding, the paper added.

Ford was not available for comment by Reuters outside regular U.S. business hours.

The paper said its sources declined to give the amount of Crown's bid but described it as on par with the Geely offer.

Geely was picked as the preferred bidder for Ford's Volvo unit with its $1.8 billion bid. (Reporting by Santosh Nadgir in Bangalore; Editing by Valerie Lee)

Ford Motor Company