Tata Motors has denied reports it was planning to stop selling its Indica supermini to MG Rover in response to the UK company’s planned association with China’s SAIC.

"There is no move to end our relationship with MG Rover. The reports are completely incorrect," the spokesperson told the Hindustan Times yesterday.

Rumours of a rift between Tata Motors and MG Rover had spread after Tata CEO Ratan Tata was quoted as saying there could be "no engagement at all" with MG Rover if it tied up with SAIC.

Tata Motors entered into an agreement with MG Rover in 2002 to export 100,000 units of the Indica, sold as the City Rover in Britain, over the next five years. The two companies have been negotiating alternative price and specification structures for the model, whose UK sales have been substantially below expectations.

Tata sold 31,428 vehicles in November this year, including exports, compared to 25,255 units twelve months earlier.