Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation is understood to be seeking a tie-up with a UK firm which would give it the research and development capability it had hoped to achieve through a joint venture with MG Rover.

Although it holds intellectual property rights to the British carmaker's 25 and 75 models, the collapse of the planned joint venture means the Chinese company lacks the capability to develop new models.

There have been suggestions that SAIC could develop its own UK design base at Longbridge using MG Rover engineers but the Chinese company is understood to be reluctant to become a direct employer in Britain.

SAIC has manufacturing capacity in China which it could exploit to build the 25 and 75 models. However, its joint ventures with General Motors and Volkswagen do not give it the development capability that would allow it to become a global player in the car industry.

The joint venture with MG Rover would have been structured to allow the two companies to develop a new mid-sized model with the UK company providing the expertise and SAIC the cash. Production would have taken place at Longbridge and in Shanghai.

The Chinese company is seen as more likely to want a tie up with a specialist design house rather than with a manufacturer which would have little need for a Chinese partner.

Administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers, who were appointed at MG Rover after the talks with SAIC broke down, have received about 200 expressions of interest in MG Rover or its assets.

One problem is that at least some of the potential suitors are interested in acquiring the intellectual property rights which SAIC bought for £67m. The Iranian government approached the administrators but said that without access to the intellectual property rights it is not planning to take matters further.

PwC has said that it was looking at the agreement over intellectual property rights, though this is seen as a normal part of the administrators' duties.