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The company produced its first car in 1904 and by 1946 the 1,000,000th car had been produced at Longbridge.

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The MG TD midgets, produced in Abingdon between 1949 and 1953, were popular in the USA and helped fuel a craze for sports cars.

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The MG was redesigned to become smaller and racier with a prominent nose and large round headlights.

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Among other famous cars produced at Longbridge, from 1959, was the classic Mini. Here the 1,000,000th is driven off the production line by designer Alec Issigonis.

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In 1952, motor industry giants Herbert Austin and William Morris joined forces to form the British Motor Corporation, with its headquarters at Longbridge.

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The Rover Group was cobbled together from the remains of state firm British Leyland but by the 1980s was taken over by British Aerospace.

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In 1994 Rover was sold to German car firm BMW, and the following year saw the launch of three redesigned model ranges at Longbridge, including the Rover 400.

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And by 1998, BMW had provided the funds to launch the new Rover 75, which became Car of the Year.

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But in 2000, the last Mini rolled off the production line, and BMW decided to break up the Rover Group after losing �600m in one year.

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BMW sold Rover to a consortium of local businessmen - Phoenix Venture Holdings - which renamed the company MG Rover, to capitalise on the popular MG sports car name.

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Under new ownership, Rover reduced its losses from about �800m in 1999 to �77m in 2003. But it never managed to become profitable.