Collapsed British carmaker MG Rover was tonight sold to a Chinese firm, raising hopes of a limited return of production.
Administrators reached a deal with Nanjing over three months after being called in to try to draw up a rescue package for the last British volume car firm.
PricewaterhouseCoopers had been holding talks with Nanjing, the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) and British businessman David James over the sale of all or part of MG Rover.
Unions had been backing the SAIC bid as the best way of attracting new jobs to Longbridge amid hopes that at least 1,600 research and development posts would be created.
Nanjing Automobile is China's oldest carmaker, having been founded in Jiangsu province in 1947.
The manufacturer, a state-owned enterprise with approximately 16,000 employees, is much smaller than SAIC, which produced 600,000 vehicles last year.
Joint administrator Tony Lomas said Nanjing will now begin to take control of the assets and develop its plans for the future.
PA
