Analysts call ex-boss' Rover bid a long shot

Former Rover boss, John Towers, is unlikely to succeed in his plan to buy the troubled car company according to industry experts.

Analysts predict that his Phoenix Project will run into difficulty because of lack of funds and would struggle to keep Rover as a volume car producer.

Staff at the company will be rooting for him because if his bid is successful around 3,500 jobs will be saved.

Tower's plan is likely to envisage Longbridge continuing to build Rover's new medium-range car, the R30, which was set to replace the Rover 25 and 45 models from 2002.

While the proposal would see Longbridge losing, perhaps, only 1,500 of its 9,000 workforce, the Alchemy scheme could result in 5,000 job losses.

Mr Towers and his consortium want to keep Longbridge as a mass production car centre, but Alchemy wants to go for niche markets and concentrate on MG sports car production while scrapping the R30 plan and cutting back on Rover 25, 45 and 75 production levels.