RIP Camry: Roewe 550 to begin prowling streets soon
There has been a flurry of Roewe spy shots over the past few months, ever since December last year we’ve been busy posting spyshots of alleged Roewe models out testing in either the extreme colds of North Eastern China, or the hot summers of Australia (lucky things!)
Roewe unveiled the W2 at the Shanghai Auto Show this year, and caused a great fuss - A Chinese company that was clearly utilizing its British based design team assets to the fullest, you can see the W2 development photos here
China Car Times has a special treat for readers, the first pictures known of the Roewe 550 unclothed, with no disguises or camoflauge known to exist…. click continue to see more.
As usual, click for bigger pictures.
The Roewe 550 will be a 1.8 turbo assisted model, the same as what came out of the Roewe 750 1.8T and the budget 1.8T MG7. Measurements are in at (LxWxH) 4624 x 1827 x 1480mm, the wheelbase measures 2705mm.
Overall, the Roewe 550 is slightly shorter than the Roewe 750, which makes us think that perhaps this car is new metal on the old short wheelbase Rover 75, where as the Roewe 750 was based on the long wheel base Rover 75. However, the Chinese motoring press are saying that originally people thought it was based on the Rover 45 platform, hence they named it the Roewe 450, but now the Chinese motoring press are saying it is actually an entirely new platform that SAIC have created - so what is it, a new platform, or a rehashed Rover? Either way, this car is beautiful.
WoW…i must say, it is rather good looking….better than most medium cars on the roads here in Oz…even the Mondeo or the Oz version Camry (which i thought is much better looking than the Aurion)….when will they start exporting to Australia, if at all?
I was thinking some more about it, could this be renamed the MG5 for export markets?
presuming that NAC and SAIC does merge, then the MG brand would be the ideal pltaform given the intrinvic value and recognition attached to the brand, which out here, is still perceived as to being ‘british’. Therefore much easier to penatrate than marketing a new brand all together. I’m sure that applies in most cases around the world. If its reiable, reaonably priced and survives a crash test, im looking forward to seeing it out on the roads here, with the MG7 ofcourse
reasonably priced as in sub 25K AUD to compete with the new ’sexy’ Lancer which has been getting rave reviews. Dare I say, since the Lancer starts at 21K, and MG’s long absence and new ownership will no doubt be publcised here once it goes on sale, they may well have to match the 21K asking price for the entry model, but somehow out-accessorise the Lancer.
I wonder what the JEROVERS WITNESSES of mg-rover.CULT make of it.
Its not an old rehashed MG-Rover by NAC so they won’t like it.
I think it looks bloody good and if it came over here (UK) as a Roewe i’d buy one
I was at Longbridge at the weekend. The place is like the Marie Celeste. For all NAC’s good intentions, there’s manifestly no chance of manufacturing resuming there, no matter what the MG MOONIES of .CULT continue to blether.
Good luck to SAIC, I say. They are carrying the torch for CLASS now.
http://www.macdroitwich.com
i just read that the plan was to market this car as a Ssangyong in the UK. But i guess that was before all these merger talks
As Borat would say wowowowowweewahwah! I am impressed with this thing. Good going SAIC.
I like the smooth lines. But what happened to the taillight cluster at the rear?
That is a good looking car, It seems Roewe is heading in the right direction.
Longbridge is, in the long term, doomed unless SAIC takeover NAC. It appears NAC haven’t got the cash to start it up… at least thats my opinion.
The Roewe 550 is superb and despite the NAC’ers on mg-rover.org trying to imply somekind of NAC connection its a SAIC project created in part by ex-Rover workers
Is it a Roewe? Is it an MG or is it an Austin? Time will tell.
Its a Roewe nothing to do with NAC-MG, although I suspect that it has MG-Rover genes in there!
Have to admit it’s a good looking car. hints of LExus and VW about it, which is not bad thing but something original and pretty well styled - subtle not gawdy. Might be the picture but the photo of the rear end looks as if the boot lid doesn’t shut correctly. I presume this must be a pre production version though. any news on exports to UK and Europe or engines (and whether there will be a diesel).
Dragin,
Thats the British heritage SHINING through!
Its probably a pre production car, I bet they’ll line up perfectly once a batch of them are produced.
But.. it’s terrible.
better than anything we’ve seen from NAC
is it just me or are those headlights just hideous? i really dont like it, make them kindof a swoopy rectangular(ish) shape with the round bits behind a clear lense and maybe we’re talking
Well the Roewe 750 also has some panel alignment problems. As Johnson says this is likely to be exported as a Ssangyong initially unless there is a SAIC merger with NAC. Apparently though Roewe plans to start creating it own overseas dealer network sometime after 2010. Whether this will really happen is debateable.
I’ve not seen a Roewe with panel problems. Bear in mind that this is the first sighting of what will be a pre-production/testing vehicle. I think its brilliant. NAC have shown us nothing new whatsoever. When, not if, SAIC takeover NAC then this could with some tweaks be a credible new MG to replace the MG ZS
That’s HERITAGE, that is. The boot lids on the Rover 75 and MG ZT were notorious for not shutting correctly, a traditional Rover problem that can be traced right back to the P6!
http://www.macdroitwich.com
The JEROVERS WITNESSES of mg-rover.CULT seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that NAC are taking over SAIC, which is akin to suggesting that Rover took over BMW!
http://www.macdroitwich.com
Streetweirdo loves to talk rubbish… as does his best pal Fartmachine
They’re not known as the JEROVERS WITNESSES for nothing, the daft over-moderated zombies.
http://www.macdroitwich.com
Does nobody else see Chrysler Sebring in the front of this hack? Lexus IS250 from the back and sides. Typical Mish-Mash cars. Will this be built in the UK or China?
This car looks great (not sure about the grille though) and has potential to be a successful cross-over vehicle from China to Europe/US/Rest of World. It is not purely a re-hashed short-wheelbase Rover 75. The key for this car is success in China before anywhere else in the world. As I recall, the car is being built in China with support from UK helping with build processes and quality.
I suspect it is on the platform developed for the stillborn MG-Rover RD/X-60 programme - that is a version of the short-wheelbase Rover 75 platform with reduced weight and a cheaper, lighter rear suspension system.
This car is much more attractive than the RD/X-60.
The Rover 45 platform was a) old, b) owned by Honda and c) shorter and narrower.
The front is a copy of VW Passat and the rear that of a Lexus IS.
front http://img.auto.cz/news/img/null.gif
rear http://img.auto.cz/news/img/null.gif
just awful
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