Explaining the Chinese Car Industry and Chinese Cars
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Roewe have released a few renderings of the soon to be released Roewe 550 compact sedan.
The interior appears to be modern, and neat - resembling the no-nonesense style that VW have perfected in the VW Bora, Jetta and Sagitar range. The dash looks rather futuristic, we do wonder what style the SAIC designers were going for, Star Trek perhaps? We hope the doors make that ‘swoosh‘ sound when opening, and the GPS Navigation unit has Lt. Uhura giving out directions commands.
Surely CCT readers will understand by now, that the Roewe 550 is one of China Car Times favorite new cars of late. We hear critisisms of the 550 such as ‘the chrome front is ugly‘, the ‘rear end is ugly‘ what a bunch of moaners! The 550 is expected to launch at the Beijing Auto Show making it just over a year since the Roewe 750 2.5 V6 was launched, the Roewe 750 1.8T is also expected to be launched at this years Beijing Auto Show.
Due to our distinct like of the Roewe 550, we dont really need any excuse to post any pictures of it! The Roewe 550 was spotted out filming a TV commercial, and a passerby happened to take a few photos!
The Roewe 550 has a 1.8 turbo assisted engine under the hood (the same as the much larger MG7/Roewe 750 1.8T) and is expected to come in at the same price as a mid range Ford Focus (120 - 160k rmb) Would we have one? Probably, probably even more if it were to receive the MG sports treatment.
The Roewe 750 2.5 V6 model has fallen in price by a staggering 32,000rmb. The cheapest model now starts at less than 200,000rmb, Roewe are offering potential customers loans that come with one year interest free.
The cheapest Roewe is now 190,980rmb for the 2.5 V6 inc leather seats, GPS, DVD and all the usual goodies. The 2.5 V6 prices have been slashed by 32,000rmb across the board to improve sales, and to make room for the 1.8T Roewe 750 which will be priced at 180,000rmb and up when it goes on the market this month.
The 2008 version of the Roewe 750 will be launched this month on the 20th. (20th March 2008)
Roewe fans will be pleased to know that the 2008 version doesn’t really have much difference to it, other than the front light water jet cleaners have been removed. Is this a case of Project Drive all over again? In January Roewe built somewhere between 10 and 30 cars (varies, according to source) but sold 651 Roewe 750’s in January.
Someone found the latest Roewe 550 parked right outside of their house, and what did they do? They took a million photos of course, and then posted them on the net.
More pictures, after the jump!
SAIC are actively seeking partners to build the Roewe 550 for European distribution according to the Chinese automotive portal, auto.sohu.com.
SAIC have reportedly held talks with the German company, Karmann, in hopes of getting them on board to make the Roewe 550 for the European mainland.
SAIC are saying that since buying NAC MG and inheriting the British factory, Longbridge, their strategic sales plans have gathered speed, and have said their next target for expansion is Europe.
Once launched in Europe, the Roewe 550 is expected to sell for 12,000 to 20,000 Euros.
MG-Rover fell from automotive grace when its life was ultimately extinguished in 2005, NAC and SAIC picked up the pieces, NAC took Longbridge and the MG brand, SAIC took the rights to the 25, and 75 models. SAIC takes the Rover 75 and makes the rather nice Roewe 750, only to buy the whole of NAC (and MG) later anyway. SAIC officials let loose their plans for the two brands today, they plan on keeping MG as a sports brand, and Roewe as a more business class type of brand.
Both brands, MG and Roewe are planning to launch cars this year. Roewe is planning to launch the Roewe 550 (possibly the worst Chinese secret car) and the Roewe 750 1.8t. MG plan on launching an MG7 Automatic (this will do wonders for their sales), the MG 3 Streetwise, and the MGTF. The Roewe 550 is expected to be a luxury compact car, but priced competively against the Skoda Octavia, VW Sagitar (Jetta), and Ford Focus type models. Officials from MG also mentioned that within 2 to 3 years, MG will launch a high class MINI type vehicle to compete with BMWs offering, China Car Times hopes that it MG might actually do a better job than BMW and their massive, yet claustrophobic, MINI.
Roewe hopes to launch the 750, 550, and a mysterious smaller car named the Roewe 350. China Car Times can only guess that the smaller model numbers indicate that Roewe might actually have a stab at making something in the small car/compact range - bigger than the MG3, but smaller than the Roewe 550? We cant wait to see it. Its also rumored that the Roewe 750 could eventually be smothered out and be replaced by future generation cars named 751/752 etc.
The Roewe 550, above, is set to be launched onto the Chinese market by July 2008, presumebly after Roewe have shown off the 550, and the 750 1.8t at the Beijing International Car Show later this year.
The Roewe 550 uses the same 1.8t engine as the the Roewe 750 1.8t, which reaches Chinese 3 emissions standards. The Chinese motoring press believe the Roewe 550 is one of the best Chinese cars to go up against the likes of the Mazda 3, Civic, and the Focus in the Chinese market. The 550 measures 4624mm long by 1827mm wide and 1480mm tall. Some people are hoping the Roewe 550 will be reworked into the MG5 and see European production begin in MGs British factory.
Roewe 550 pricing is expected to be 120,000rmb to 160,000rmb when launched in China.
The Roewe 1.8T model will go on sale on March 10th according to our sources. The Roewe 1.8t is set to come in at three different spec levels, prices are expected to be 200,000rmb to 230,000rmb. This makes the lowest priced Roewe 750 1.8T 20,000rmb more expensive than the basic MG7 1.8T.
The Roewe 750 1.8t puts out 118kw and 215nm of torque, that gives the car a top speed of 205kph.
In the MG-Rover fan circles, it was commonly felt that the Longbridge factory had been left to return to nature by its Chinese owners, but it seems that they have had plans for it all along. Hopefully now that SAIC are in charge of MG, they will be able to give more direction and turn out the Roewe 550 as an MG5 from the lines of Longbridge!
The below article from the Financial Times details SAICs plans for the long dormant factory. Click continue reading to see more!
Continue reading ‘MG’s British factory, Longbridge set to finally make cars?’
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