Car production at the former MG Rover factory in Longbridge will start again in June, a council leader has claimed.
Mike Whitby, the leader of Birmingham City Council, said that during high-level discussions over the weekend, MG's new Chinese owners confirmed that manufacturing was to re-commence at the plant, which has been inactive since the collapse of Rover in 2005.
The announcement comes as the first MGs to be made in China roll off motor giant Nanjing Automobile's production lines.
Mr Whitby said: "This weekend I met with a high-level delegation of Chinese officials and representatives from Nanjing Automobile.
"They confirmed to me that production would commence in Nanjing on March 27, with a projected start date of early June for manufacturing at Longbridge.
"In addition, they confirmed that the success of the Nanjing Automotive Company's experience in Birmingham will affect whether other industries in the Jiangsu province invest in the UK."
Wang Hong Biao, Nanjing Automobile's UK chairman, thanked the city council for its support in bringing car manufacturing back to Longbridge.
He said: "In order to restore Longbridge to its former glory as the base of a more than 100-year British motor industry, you have supported us, which was risky and unusual."
More than 5,000 workers at the plant were made redundant when MG Rover went out of business in 2005, five years after being sold by BMW.
