Filed under: Sedans/Saloons, China, Roewe
The Roewe 550 is not beautiful
The E-Type Jaguar is beautiful. The Lamborghini Miura is beautiful. Most reasonable individuals bestowed with the gift of sight would not argue those points. Alas, "beautiful" as an adjective is regularly abused. Case in point: the new Roewe 550, which is inexplicably described as such by our Sino-focused blogging brothers at China Car Times. We strenuously disagree. We understand that there are many ugly Chinese cars, and that when the nation's auto industry produces one that doesn't cause onlookers to instantaneously turn to stone, it's noteworthy. That said, "not overwhelmingly ugly" does not equal "beautiful." The Roewe 550's front end looks as if a modern Nissan/Infiniti (grille shape & slats), a Saturn Aura (everything below the front bumper), and a last-gen Chrysler Sebring or 300M (headlamps) got caught in a horrific Star Trek transporter accident. As you can see, the result is far from beautiful, despite the generous claims of China Car Times. They're entitled to their opinions, of course, but if this is beautiful then the new Malibu looks like Malcom Pray's 1939 Delahaye by comparison.
[Source: China Car Times]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
SuperSkyline89 10:18AM (11/14/2007)
The body looks like a Toyota Camry and the front grill looks like a Nissan's, headlights remind me of a Chrysler Sebring and this may sound weird but the bottom of the front bumper screams Audi R8 at me.
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AlfaMike 12:00PM (11/14/2007)
Yep lol, I was thinking this was the much rumored update to the current Sebring - what's funny/sad is that as awkward looking as this car is, it would still be smoother than the current Chrysler rental fleet offering.
P to the C 10:37AM (11/14/2007)
I thought is was more of a Malibu with a Sebring frontend. I don't know if I'd call it 'beautiful' but it's not unattractive.
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Ron 10:38AM (11/14/2007)
Alex, your description hits the mark. The first thing I thought of when I saw it was "Chrysler Condcorde!". Definitely not beautiful. As uninspiring as many of our US cars are, these Chinese cars i've seen are even worse.
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joe23521 10:39AM (11/14/2007)
Looks pretty good to me, actually.
When you dissect a car into the most basic of geometric shapes, you're bound to be reminded of other cars' basic geometric shapes.
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VP 10:45AM (11/14/2007)
You don't need to disect this car into anything to see the Concorde grill, Camry body & the Altima grill. Just another hodgepodge of others cars sewn together by the chinese.
tekdemon 9:16PM (12/01/2007)
VP, while at first glance I too thought Concorde, I don't really see the other things you claim it knocks off, and I own a Camry, lol.
To be honest though, since every car manufacturer basically knocks off design cues from other car manufacturers, it is pretty hard to make a fully original car that isn't hideous. Just try drawing your own car design (a REALISTIC car, not some crazy future-mobile with wire wheels or whatever) and you'll soon realize that pretty much all the possible shapes that aren't hideous are probably already used by some other car.
Oh and upon closer inspection the headlights are actually different from pretty much every other car out there, even if they initially give you the impression of Concorde. The real question is whether Roewe will develop this style across all their models as their new design language, since if you keep making drastically different designs people will just continue to claim you're knocking off x or x or x.
By the way, the rear looks like the Lexus IS' lights to be, but again upon closer inspection they're different enough that I wouldn't say it's a knockoff. Honestly it's more unique than most cars out there, Chinese or not, since all the cars you mentioned it as knocking off have also share design cues with a lot of other cars.
k.w.a 10:45AM (11/14/2007)
it doesnt look that bad to me at all. it just looks like a fat rover 75 to me.
I think Chinese cars can actually be competitive with designs like this, not like the other sh*ts we've been seeing
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SherbornSean 10:57AM (11/14/2007)
This would make a great getaway car for the next Malibu bank robbery ad
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MJL 11:12AM (11/14/2007)
Aww come on guys, don't be so quick to judge other blogs for their biases. Can you blame them for slathering praise on a car that actually looks OK and comes from China? After all, your based-in-America blog claims that the shovel-nosed, deeply unsexy Lincoln MKS is bringing a "new look" to American luxury. If grafting the Maserati Quattroporte's ass onto a Volvo S80 is an achievement, I guess we owe them a thank you.
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kevjohn 11:19AM (11/14/2007)
Another car from China? If it can hit a brick wall at 10 m.p.h. and NOT crumble into a passenger-crushing heap, I'll consider it beautiful.
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diddy 6:20PM (11/14/2007)
The car looks much better than your f*ckin face.
Alex 11:54AM (11/14/2007)
I wonder what the comments and the post will be like if the word "chinese" or "china" are not in the article... Readers already have a prejudgment of the vehicle when they see the words "chinese" or "china" in it... its kinda sad ... in terms of style... i dont know why people arent complaining about Hyundai's styling.. it always looks like they copy some part of either Honda or Toyota's styling.. yet nobody flinch about that
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David W. 1:32PM (11/14/2007)
"Readers already have a prejudgment of the vehicle when they see the words "chinese" or "china" in it... its kinda sad"
While I agree I don't think it's "sad" it's something Chinese manufacturers have brought upon themselves. When poorly made Chinese products stop killing people and pets, then I might regain some amount of respect.
I don't think this is a "beautiful" car...it not ugly, but it's not beautiful...Beautiful would be something like a 911
SuperSkyline89 6:25PM (11/14/2007)
Whats so sad about. David was right when he said the Chinese brought it on themselves. Everything they make is either a copy of someone else's product, poisons people with lead, or is just plain crap quality. The Chinese can make quality products if they want, but they aren't so they don't deserve any sympathy.
ThwartedEfforts 12:39PM (11/14/2007)
No, it's not "beautiful", but it's no more ugly than any American-made alternative, many of which lean heavily on aggressive front end styling to set them apart from all the other genuinely mediocre cars out there. Just look at today's photos of the MKS and Malibu, both of which adopt the flat-faced 'Detroit grin' but from the chops backwards are less exciting than a trip to the dentist.
Doubtless the Roewe will also be horribly mediocre, but it'll also be worryingly cheap and its looks are a) inoffensive and b) not overtly trendy, meaning it'll sell to the majority of buyers who simply aren't interested in cars. They just want A-B wheels.
If it passes crash and emissions tests I dare say it'll fly out of showroom doors.
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Xcountryflyer 12:39PM (11/14/2007)
Not the best looking car I've seen, but far better than the brazen copies of other cars.
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S 12:41PM (11/14/2007)
Looks no worse than the new Malibu or Sebring.
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Big Rocket 12:58PM (11/14/2007)
According to the China Car Times headlines: "RIP Camry: Roewe 550 to begin prowling streets soon". So let's all get this straight: the Roewe 550 is a family sedan meant to compete with Camry, not with the Jaguar E-Type or the Lamborghini Miura. What's next, the Chevy Malibu is not beautiful because it doesn't measure up to the Aston Martin Vantage or the Ferrari F430?
If you wish to bash Chinese products, feel free to bring up their poor vehicle crash safety, the recalls in their toys and pet food, etc, etc. But as far as looks go, the Roewe 550 is in the same ballpark as all the other family sedans on American freeways, a mediocre player in a mediocre field.
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nissanfreak87 1:09PM (11/14/2007)
See, no one refers to the Camry as beautiful, beautiful is kept for those few striking cars that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Those would include the Miura, Vantage, and E-type, referring to this as beautiful would put it in the same league as those cars, which it not even close too. The car is hideous, it's soft, there's no structure to it, just rounded sides without any real accent, it looks heavy and nothing flows together, that makes it by far the worst looking car in the mid-size car field.
but then again, everyone's taste is different.