MG Rover is planning a marketing drive in the New Year to counteract sales which are falling to their worst level in a decade.
The firm is looking to appoint more dealers and cut prices.
Rover is expected to sell fewer than 120,000 cars in 2004, acknowledged managing director of sales Rod Ramsay.
The company is on the brink of a £1bn deal with a Chinese company, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, and is hoping to launch new models in 2005.
"We are still on track to gaining final agreement early in the New Year," Mr Ramsay said.
Reports indicate that SAIC could get 70% of the business for an investment of £1bn.
In need of refreshment?
The predicted fall in sales - some 25,000 down on 2003's performance - was a sign that Rover had lacked confidence this year, Mr Ramsay said.
The firm's line-up has generally been judged to be in need of an overhaul, and its City Rover model - a version of a car designed by India's Tata Motors - have fallen well short of expectations with just 6,000 sold in the UK.
New equipment and fresh models will hit the showrooms some time in 2005, including refreshed versions of the Streetwise and Rover 45 cars.
Until then sales could remain below par, Mr Ramsay said.
But he held out hopes of a reinvigorated Rover performance, promising 30 new dealers in the UK and another 100 in Europe.
And work on a new medium car is due to be completed in January, he said.
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