Huatai-Hyundai, the makers of the Hyundai SanteFei SUV in China have teamed up with SAIC owned brand, Roewe, to stick the Rover acquired 1.8t K series engine into the Hyundai Santefe. China Car Times believes that the smaller sized engine will allow Huatai Hyundai to drop the price of the Santefe to a bargain bin price range of 110,000rmb to 160,000rmb which is much more affordable than their cheapest 180k RMB, two wheel drive Santefe, at the 110 – 160k price range, Hua Tai is really in a position to shake up the Chinese SUV market.

Another strange aspect about the Roewe/Huatai tie up is that Roewe haven’t actually made any cars as of yet with the 1.8T engine in, we’ve seen spy shots of an alleged Roewe 750 1.8T but we’ve yet to see them rolling down the production lines.