A BUSINESS group in Worcestershire is confident the county's former MG Rover workers will get their jobs back, despite reports that the new owners will transfer most of the work to China.

Nanjing Automobile bought the firm on Friday and said that it would relocate MG Rover's engine plant and some car production to China. However, it also promised to employ as many as 2,000 British workers, as it partly revives production.

But the Chamber of Commerce Herefordshire and Worcestershire said it hoped to convince Nanjing that the Midlands is the only place to make the cars and that many more would find work.

Christopher Harvey, policy manager at the chamber, said: "There has been speculation that if Nanjing was successful, it would wish to move the high-value jobs, such as engine production, to China and that Longbridge would be essentially an assembly plant.

"I hope that we are able to show the new owners that the expertise and skills that we have in the Midlands makes this the right place to continue these high-value processes for the benefit of both the region and the Nanjing Group.

"We also look forward to seeing work being created for the many businesses in the area that supply goods and services to MG Rover," said Mr Harvey.

The boost to the local economy may be a while in the making though as rival bidder Shanghai Automotive said it was considering a legal challenge to the sale.

s offer, tipped to win the bidding war, was favoured by unions that said it offered the prospect of creating the most jobs in Britain.

Now the company believes it has been denied the opportunity to put in its final offer.

Shanghai Automotive, which pulled out of a joint venture intended to save the carmaker earlier this year, already owns the rights to build the Rover 25 and Rover 75.