BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones: "Volkswagen seems certain to win the day."

The German car maker Volkswagen is strongly tipped to win the battle with its £430m offer for the Vickers-owned firm.

But also in the running is BMW with a rival £340m bid. A question-mark hangs over a wildcard entry from a group of Rolls fans calling themselves Crewe Motors, after the town in which the cars are made.

The battle for ownership of Rolls-Royce has taken many twists and turns, with Vickers initially backing the bid from BMW, which already makes engines for the company.

Volkswagen is the hot favourite

But Vickers switched allegiance when Volkswagen waded in with a higher offer.

VW's hand was strengthened on Thursday with news that its Audi subsidiary had agreed to buy Vickers' Cosworth engines unit for £120m. The deal is conditional on the Rolls sale being sealed.

"This is excellent news for all concerned and underlines the case for our shareholders approving the sale of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars to Volkswagen," said Vickers chairman Sir Colin Chandler.

But VW Chief Executive Ferdinand Piech refused to see the sale as a done deal.

BMW was first to make a bid

He told VW's annual shareholders' meeting: "In the event that we don't win the bid, we will realise an entry into the top luxury segment by other means. In this case our goal would be to go it alone."

There will be protests at the meeting in London from some shareholders keen to support a third bid from an alliance of British motoring enthusiasts, led by barrister Michael Shrimpton.

Gavin Green, Editor in Chief of Car magazine: "Rolls-Royce has dropped a bit in technical excellence"

The group had wanted to delay the meeting in the hope of tabling a higher bid.

But its chances appear slim. "Nothing has been submitted today which alters our plans for Friday," said a Vickers spokesman on Thursday afternoon.

"We have received nothing which constitutes a concrete bid. We have not received an unconditional offer for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars or anything that is a hard offer."