Car production is set to restart at Longbridge after China's Nanjing Automobile signed a 33-year lease on the former MG Rover plant today.

The deal - signed in a ceremony at the plant - covers two car assembly plants, the paint shop and administrative offices at a rent of around £1.8m a year.

"A landmark agreement, which opens the way for future car production at Longbridge, Birmingham, was signed today," said a spokesman for St Modwen Properties, the owner of the site.

Nanjing bought Rover for £50m last year after it went bankrupt, and has said it plans to revive production at Longbridge.

The terms of the lease on 105 acres of the 469-acre site incorporate a six-month break clause in case Nanjing is unable to provide a viable long-term future.

"The MG brand is famous and we are proud to project it into an exciting future," said Nanjing's chairman, Wang Hongbiao.

"We are grateful for the help and support Birmingham city council has given us throughout this process and look forward to working with them in the future."

The council provided funding to help seal the deal after intensive negotiations last night and this morning.

"This is the first state in the resumption, we hope, of manufacturing at this site," a city official said.

Around 6,000 jobs were lost when Rover collapsed just before last year's general election, but unions are hoping hundreds of workers will be hired by Nanjing when the company's production plans are finalised.

A special task force was set up to help former Rover workers find jobs and to assist firms that used to supply the British car giant.

St Modwen acquired 412 acres of the Longbridge site in two deals in 2003 and 2004 for £57.5m and leased it back to MG Rover.

Around 180 acres are earmarked for a multimillion-pound redevelopment, including offices, houses and a technology park.