Nanjing, the Chinese carmaker that won the auction for MG Rover, has expressed its surprise at the success of its £50 million bid.

In an interview with the Oriental Morning Post, a Nanjing spokesman, Liu Ningsheng, said: "We are surprised by the successful acquisition of Rover."

Nanjing now faces a possible legal battle with its Chinese rival, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) over the ownership of ex-MG Rover assets.

Mr Lu also confirmed the price agreed for Rover for the first time.

"The price of the acquisition is a bit more than £50 million," Mr Liu told the Shanghai-based paper.

He added that Nanjing would "welcome cooperation of both domestic and foreign capital", including SAIC, to establish a holding company.

"We could even consider giving up our majority rights in the company," he said.

Both SAIC and Nanjing are owned by the Chinese government. SAIC today called for all bids for the MG Rover to be published, after claiming that it made the highest offer and should have won the auction for Britain's last volume carmaker.

SAIC, which already owns certain property rights to Rover cars, had been involved in takeover talks for MG Rover since last year, but failed to come to an agreement with the UK Government to stave off the company's adminstration in April.

Tony Lomas, the chief administrator for PricewaterhouseCoopers, today denied Shanghai's claims over its bid. He told the BBC that SAIC had underbid, even with an 11th-hour e-mail on Friday, when it announced the Nanjing deal.

PwC has also made it clear that Nanjing's offer was, importantly, clean of conditions.

SAIC said: "The lack of clarity is that neither offer has been published by the administrator, so that nobody is able to see."

Under the terms of the Nanjing deal, the remaining assets of MG Rover and its dedicated engine producer Powertrain have been sold to Nanjing.

According to reports, Nanjing plans to build two new MG sports cars, to replace the MG TF and the MG version of the Rover 75.

However, last year SAIC bought the rights to the Rover 25 and 75 and the K- and L-series engines for £67 million. It is arguing that Nanjing should not be allowed to make the MG variants of the Rover 25 and 75.

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