Trouble-shooter 'set for MG Rover bid'

Business trouble-shooter David James is expected to file a £40m (€58m) bid for MG Rover within 48 hours, it was reported today.

Mr James said he would aim to develop MG as a small-scale “niche” car manufacturer at Longbridge in England, but has no interest in reviving mass production at the West Midlands site.

Administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers yesterday confirmed it was in discussions with one UK party – understood to be Mr James’s Project Kimber consortium – and two overseas firms, known to be Chinese car giant Nanjing and its rival Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), which has forged an alliance with the ex-head of Ford Europe, Martin Leach.

Mr James today said a successful MG would be able to attract other niche manufacturers from around the world to construct their cars at Longbridge, leading to a “big escalation of employment” at the plant.

He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “We believe that we can build the MG side of it into a niche car category which we can build on and bring other niche cars from British history into the site as well.

“We also believe that we have got a number of major international manufacturers around the world who will rapidly bring their assembly operations for their own niche motor cars to Longbridge.

“That will provide the impetus for a very big escalation of employment on the site. The main difference is we don’t believe in the mass production concept. We do believe in the niche product and that is exactly where we are going with our bid.”

In April, almost 6,000 jobs were lost when MG Rover called in administrators after a planned joint venture with SAIC disintegrated.