Nanjing Automobile has approached some of the failed bidders for MG Rover in an attempt to sell a majority stake in the collapsed UK carmaker, just three days after the Chinese manufacturer won the auction.

Nanjing, which paid just over £50m ($87m) for the assets of Rover and Powertrain, its engine arm, wants outside funding and a management team for the UK operations. The sale would not include equipment for making engines and production lines for the small and medium cars, which will be boxed up and shipped to China.