Unions said the deal, which would put the loss-making business in the hands of a London investment firm, amounted to a break-up of the company and the loss of thousands of jobs.

``We are not going to keel over and accept 40,000, 50,000, 60,000 (direct and indirect) job losses that this could lead to,'' said a Transport and General Workers Union official.

The official, Tony Woodley, was referring to a plan by the new owner, private equity firm Alchemy Partners, to shrink the business and turn it into a niche maker of sports cars.

``The most we are going to be left with here is 1,500 jobs in three years' time if you are very, very lucky,'' he told Reuters.

Rover's main Longbridge plant in central England produces around 180,000 cars a year and employs about 9,000 people.

Alchemy, which is acquiring the bulk of the Rover business, plans to cut output to below 100,000 and rebrand the business as the MG Car Company. It declines to say many jobs will be lost.

Trade unions and MPs called at the weekend for consumers to boycott BMW cars. The British government, which offered state aid to shore up Rover's future, has accused the German firm of misleading it over its plan to ditch the business.

Other union officials told newspapers that Britons should stop buying the luxury German cars and that owners of BMWs, especially celebrities, should trade them in for a Rover.

One even called on the makers of the James Bond films to abandon the British special agent's signature BMW sports car.

``Our members want to hit BMW where it hurts - in the profits,'' said engineers' union leader Sir Ken Jackson. Woodley of the transport union said a boycott was not the only option open to trade unions representing Rover workers.

``There are a number of things that we can do,'' he said but declined to comment on a report that strike action was possible. Union leaders were due to meet on Monday to discuss their options, Woodley said.

Relations between the British government and BMW have nose-dived over the Rover deal which was being hatched even as London was pushing for EU approval of 152 million pounds ($238.7 million) in British state aid for the car maker. Alchemy is to announce its management team for Rover early this week and try to ease concerns Rover is being handed to a financial firm with little experience of the motor industry.

The Wall Street Journal