Administrators trying to salvage MG Rover were "locked in detailed discussions" last night with three bidders vying for the Longbridge assets.
Discussions with the three parties are proving to be complex and timeconsuming they said.
China ' s biggestgge st carmaker, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), yesterday firmed up its proposed joint bid with a consortium led by former Ford of Europe boss Martin Leach.
SAIC is competing with fellow Chinese carmaker Nanjing and a consortium of Midland businessmen led by company troubleshooter David James, the man who saved the Millennium Dome.
Expectations were that the administrators from Price Waterhouse Coopers would announce the successful bidder this week, possibly yesterday.
But joint administrator Tony Lomas later said: "We are locked in detailed discussions with three separate parties, each of which is at a different stage of completing its negotiations. One of these parties is from the UK and the other two are from overseas. All three are intending to acquire all of the car and engine production assets of both MG Rover and Powertrain.
"All the potential buyers have an ambition to continue, at least, some car production in the UK although it will take some time for any of them to get production up and running again."
Creditors, who are owed £1.4 billion after MG Rover went bust with the loss of more than 6,000 jobs in April, have been kept informed, Mr Lomas said.
SAIC, which effectively pulled the plug on the MG Rover when it walked away from a joint venture, yesterday said it had signed a letter of intent with Magma Holding, a London-based company founded by Mr Leach and former General Motors executive Edward Sabisky. The plan is to buy all the assets of MG Rover and Powertrain and resume production of some models at Longbridge.
Northfield Labour MP Richard Burden said any plan to resume car production would have to be sustainable in order to win suppliers' confidence.
