A BUSINESS trouble-shooter is expected to file a £40m bid for MG Rover within 48 hours, it was reported yesterday.

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

Administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers has 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 group 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 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. The main difference is we don't believe in the mass production concept."