Nanjing Automobile Group Corp., which last week acquired MG Rover Group, may sell a stake in the British carmaker to its rival bidders, the Financial Times said, without saying where it got the information.

Nanjing Automobile was seeking outside funding and a British management team to restart MG car production, the newspaper said. The sale wouldn't include equipment for engine making and production lines for small and medium-sized cars, as they would be moved to China, the newspaper said.

Nanjing Automobile had contacted Fraser Welford-Winton, the former head of the MG Rover engine unit Powertrain, who had attempted a management buyout bid for the carmaker.

David James, who had been in talks to buy MG Rover, would be "very interested'' in buying the MG business from Nanjing Automobile, the newspaper said.

Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC), which last week lost the bidding to acquire MG Rover, may block buyer Nanjing Automobile from using Rover car designs, a spokesman said.

SAIC bought the design rights to the Rover 25 and 75 cars and K-series engine last year for 67 million pounds (US$116 million). Nanjing Automobile may develop other sports-car models, including the Rover ZR and ZT.

"The company will be examining the sale process and deciding what its next move should be,'' Rupert Pittman, a spokesman for the company, said Tuesday. Nanjing Automobile "cannot produce anything without Shanghai Auto's approval,'' he said.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, MG Rover's administrator said July 22 it sold the company's car production and engine business to Nanjing Automobile. SAIC said it submitted a higher bid for the group four days earlier.

(Shenzhen Daily July 27, 2005)