Today the Chinese press are reporting that the super cool Roewe W2 will be named the Roewe 550, SAIC insiders have been talking to the press, letting out all of those dirty little SAIC secrets, namely that the W2, errrr, Roewe 55o will be in production by the end of the year, will come with a 1.6 litre engine (and bigger) the SAIC insider also said the Rover naming style has ended with the Roewe 750, in the future Roewe cars will be known as Roewe 5, Roewe 3 and so on. The final price of the Roewe 5 series is expected to be less than 200,000rmb putting it right up against the Corolla and the Focus in the Chinese markets.
Interesting . . . Roewe 7, 5 and 3 . . . MG7, 5 and 3.
www.macdroitwich.com
…BMW series 7, 5, 3
What a surprise!
its definately a good looking car. I wonder if they’ll ever export it, or indeed if it’ll pass ENCAP tests (unlike Brilliance). It’ll be good to see the whole spec package one of theses days…
Johnson, I think it will probably be unveiled at the Guangzhou autoshow later this year.
Ashley
The pic is W2, not W261(Roewe450). Some reporters visit SAIC UK recently, they show some clear front side photos of W261.
http://118.img.pp.sohu.com/images/blog/2007/8/29/22/10/1154c391e67.jpg
http://118.img.pp.sohu.com/images/blog/2007/8/29/22/10/1154c390e14.jpg
http://118.img.pp.sohu.com/images/blog/2007/8/29/22/10/1154c38ee27.jpg
http://118.img.pp.sohu.com/images/blog/2007/8/29/22/10/1154c38d7c6.jpg
http://119.img.pp.sohu.com/images/blog/2007/8/29/22/16/1154c434d9f.jpg
They also get some official info from vice CEO of SAIC UK,
Engine: 1.8L/1.8T, 100kW-125kW, Euro IV with techs could upgrade to Euro V, possible more power engine in the future (1.6L engine also mentioned in the artile, but it’s not official).
Crash Test: designed to be NCAP 5 star, they are satisfied with the test result now.
Road test completed: frigid area(Sweden), low and high temperature in mountain area(Spain), high speed(Germany)
Test nearly end focus on Chinese road circumstances: reliability test, winter test, summer test, plateau area test.
Jon/Alibaba,
What is the difference between the 450/W2 etc ?
There theories going around that the car we often get pictures of is actually a reskinned Roewe 750 that they plan to launch for foreign market - anything you know?
Ashley
The pic is W2, not W261(Roewe450). Some reporters visit SAIC UK recently, they show some clear front side photos of W261.
http://118.img.pp.sohu.com/images/blog/2007/8/29/22/10/1154c391e67.jpg
http://118.img.pp.sohu.com/images/blog/2007/8/29/22/10/1154c390e14.jpg
http://118.img.pp.sohu.com/images/blog/2007/8/29/22/10/1154c38ee27.jpg
http://118.img.pp.sohu.com/images/blog/2007/8/29/22/10/1154c38d7c6.jpg
http://119.img.pp.sohu.com/images/blog/2007/8/29/22/16/1154c434d9f.jpg
They also get some official info from vice CEO of SAIC UK,
Engine: 1.8L/1.8T, 100kW-125kW, Euro IV with techs could upgrade to Euro V, possible more power engine in the future (1.6L engine also mentioned in the artile, but it’s not official).
Crash Test: designed to be NCAP 5 star, they are satisfied with the test result now.
Road test completed: frigid area(Sweden), low and high temperature in mountain area(Spain), high speed(Germany)
Test nearly end focus on Chinese road circumstances: reliability test, winter test, summer test, plateau area test.
Ashley
Some reporters visit SAIC UK recently, they show some clear front side photos of W261.
http://118.img.pp.sohu.com/images/blog/2007/8/29/22/10/1154c391e67.jpg
http://118.img.pp.sohu.com/images/blog/2007/8/29/22/10/1154c390e14.jpg
http://118.img.pp.sohu.com/images/blog/2007/8/29/22/10/1154c38ee27.jpg
http://118.img.pp.sohu.com/images/blog/2007/8/29/22/10/1154c38d7c6.jpg
http://119.img.pp.sohu.com/images/blog/2007/8/29/22/16/1154c434d9f.jpg
Ashely,
There are some clear photos of W261, dont konw why I couldnt reply in CCTimes, maybe the post is too long. I post it in carspy.
http://www.carspyshots.net/zerothread?id=22419&page=4
You posted too many links in one comment, they get marked as spam
Good post that, ill post them up in proper post.
Sorry for posting like a spam maker, please delete extra ones
W2 is codename of the concept car they showed before, W261 is the codename of mass production version, as your news Roewe450 is only a name called in English car forum, no one knows what they will call W261 finally.
Maybe W261 is shortened R75, or a platform derived from former MGR-SAIC project, only insiders working in SAIC could tell us the story. But I think it’s surely not a reskinned Roewe750,
1) W261(wheelbase about 2700mm, enter with 1.8L/1.8T engine)is obviously smaller than Roewe750’s 2849mm and 2.5V6
2) The road test process of W261 is not less than a standard new platform in main western companies, it’s much more than other Chinese carmakers’ new platform and SAIC’s own Roewe750.
3) W261 and W161(Roewe750) belong to different production lines in SAIC’s roadmap, W261 is A class, and R750 is B
p.s. some platform codenames of SAIC production lines mentioned in report before I remember, they will enter market in 2 years:
W161 - Roewe750, B class
W2/W261 - A class
L100 - SUV, maybe it’s a facelift Ssangyong
C200 - A/A0 class Sedean and SUV, they said Ssangyong will also have a new small SUV based on this new platform
Good looking car! That is a face for a coupe, not for a sedan, I would like to see the rest of it.
This car was designed in UK or China?
As a Brit interested in marketing I think the name Roewe is the most comical name in the car industry. Once again China is buying western technology and making it “Chinese”.
I give you an unconditional guarantee that the “Roewe” name was not invented by a western English speaking copywriter because it is a comical sounding name a native English speaker.
Chris, London UK
are there actually any source or video for the 5 stars NCAP test ? or any crash test performance source at all ?