The Roewe N1 concept car was unveiled at the Shanghai Auto Show this week, it drew in the crowds to the rather large SAIC stand, but it was greatly out done by the fantastic MG6.

You see, the W2 concept car (which later became the Roewe 550) was a new begining, but an extension of Rover (and therefore British) motoring heritage. The design was a radical change from the Rovers of the MG-R age, and showed a new direction, the MG6 continues with that new direction and will give MG fans the world over hope for the MG brands revival (how many lives does MG have exactly?)

The Roewe N1 is a great car, as you can see from the pictures, it just fails to give that inspiration that the W2 gave. The N1 comes off as being ‘another Asian car’, albeit a very nice one. It’s not only my opinion, but the opinion of countless other people who I talked to throughout the week.

Nobody is quite sure what platform the N1 concept will be built on, or what the N actually stands for. Guesses range from a new platform, or the old Rover 45 platform which was an even older Honda Accord.

Roewe N1, great, but not fantastic. Perhaps the production version, which will be an MG as well, will look better.