British favourite gets Chinese makeover

The Chinese company which bought part of Rover unveiled their first car yesterday. The Roewe 750 is based on the Rover 75.

Shanghai Automobile Industry Corporation (SAIC) bought the rights to the Rover 25 and 75 in June 2005, following the collapse of MG Rover.

SAIC are using the name ‘Roewe’ because the ‘Rover’ brand name was bought by Ford.

The Roewe 750 appears to be larger than the 75 it is based on, and is expected to feature a high level of equipment as standard.

A second Chinese company, Nanjing Automobile (Group) Corporation, bought the assets of MG including the Longbridge plant in Birmingham.

They intend to resume production of the MG TF roadster at Longbridge next year. But only a few hundred jobs are expected to be required, compared to the 6,000 that lost work when the plant closed.


By Keith Collantine