Autoblog

Click above for high-res gallery of the Roewe 550

Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation debuted the Roewe 550 over the weekend at the Auto China show in Beijing, and it joins the 750 in a lineup that was designed and engineered entirely in Britain. For those who don't remember the story, a little history lesson might be in order. SAIC fought long and hard against cross-town Chinese rival Nanjing for the right to purchase the bankrupt English automotive brand Rover. SAIC won the battle, but didn't secure the rights to the Rover name. Hence, Roewe was born and the 750 debuted as a rebadged version of the Rover 75. The Roewe 550, however, is its own car with a design that doesn't carry forward any obvious cues from Rover. Based on a shortened version of the Rover 75 platform, the 550 was reportedly being developed before MG Rover bit the dust in 2005, and SAIC has made sure to keep the car palatable to European tastes as it plans to sell the 550 in Europe eventually.

The 550 features a clean and tasteful exterior design, though some at the show note its interior isn't made of the highest quality materials. We do, however, like the digital gauge cluster that wraps around the analog tach, as well as the flush nav screen. The 550's available engines, however, are not as impressive and include the same 1.8T and 1.6L K-Series four-cylinders, as well as a 2.0L diesel, that were sold in Rovers before the company collapsed. Autocar points out it's also possible that the 550 could be badged as an MG in Europe, as SAIC recently bought its rival Nanjing, which settled for buying the MG name when it lost the bid to own Rover's assets.

Check out the new Roewe 550 in our high-res gallery below.



All photos Copyright ©2008 Ibiza Wang / Weblogs, Inc.

[Source: Autoblog Chinese, Autocar]

Click image for photo gallery

Every now and then, you have to eat crow. This is one of those times. Early spy shots of the Roewe 550 had me thinking it was nothing special -- and far from beautiful. Subsequent spy shots cast it in a better light, and now, with the release of official images of the final car, it's clear that this is a big deal for the Chinese automaker. The headlamps still seem a little weird -- they're sort of shaped like old telephone receivers -- but the whole package is well done and attractive inside and out.

The interior gives off the Euro-modern luxury feel of a BMW, with a wide, hooded IP that houses a nifty looking gauge cluster and the to-be-expected nav/multimedia screen. Outside, it's got a sleek, attractive profile that you'd expect to see coming from a premium European or Japanese automaker, but probably not China. So much for that. This is a very nice-looking car, period. Now, assuming it can handle a crash without turning into one of the death traps from a Saw film, it would seem that Roewe's got something really good here. We'll follow up when the big unveiling takes place in Beijing.

[Source: Auto Sina]

Click image for a gallery of the Roewe 550 sedan

SAIC's Rowe brand (nee Rover) is set to formally unveil its new 550 sedan in Beijing next month. The sedan's styling is very mainstream save for its unfortunate front fascia. Those undersized, oddly-shaped headlights just seem very out of place. That said, it's not as if we're the target market, and it's likely to be one of the more important Beijing Motor Show debuts. According to China Car Times, the 550 will be powered by the same 1.8L turbo found under the hood of the Roewe 750 (the re-engineered Rover 75). We'll have more photos and additional details via the crew at Autoblog Chinese when the car is unveiled next month.


[Sources: XCAR, China Car Times]

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]