LDV dealers are waiting to be paid for warranty work while negotiations continue over the van maker’s future.

It is believed LDV is close to securing a deal with one new investor, believed to be Indian manufacturer
Mahindra and Mahindra or a Malaysian company that already buys the Maxus in kit form and exports it to its domestic market.

The negotiation process has been strung out for a longer period than expected which has left employees, suppliers and dealers waiting for news on what will happen.

A dealer who wanted to remain anonymous said: “We’re telling customers that we will still be here no
matter what happens to LDV. "We’re not getting paid for warranty at the moment and some dealers are now not doing warranty work at all.

“We are, but not any big jobs if we can help it.  LDV has given us some used vans in lieu of debts and this has helped as we have had a good run selling them and it has reduced our liability.

“We hope that it will survive, but we will move on if the worst happens.”

A spokesman for LDV said the negotiations were to provide funding to continue to develop and build the Maxus at the factory in Birmingham, as well as launch electric engines in addition to diesel from later this year.
He said: “This is the plan that the management team has been working on.

"However, the structure of the business backed by these investors has not yet been confirmed. We must also stress that the details of these negotiations at this critical stage are highly confidential and we are required not to release details of any of the discussions.”

LDV must secure funding from a private investor before it can benefit from any money from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

LDV applied for an EIB loan in January but has told employees via its blog that it cannot access funds until the future of the company is secure.

The spokesman said: “It is, however, positive to see how quickly the applications for Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan have been processed and this gives further confidence in the business case for investors in LDV, that additional funds for development of LDV’s vehicles could be made available quickly through this route.”