Chinese carmaker Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation has tabled a seven-figure bid for Powertrain, the engine-making arm of MG Rover.

Although the offer is at a premium to the scrap value of the assets involved, industry sources suggested it would not be significantly higher.

Administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers have said they have received nine bids for all or parts of MG Rover, three covering the whole business, three for the MG TF sportscar and three so-called lift and shift bids for particular assets. A team from PwC is already in China considering the logistics of moving Powertrain production to Shanghai.

Nikolai Smolenski, the Russian millionaire owner of British sports carmaker TVR, has made an offer which, if successful, would involve restarting car production at Longbridge. TVR confirmed the offer but said discussions with the administrators were continuing.

The process has been complicated by questions of ownership. SAIC paid MG Rover £67m last year for at least some of the intellectual property rights to part of its model line-up, though exactly what appears to be disputed.