Roewe is a vehicle

marque A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

created by the Chinese automaker

SAIC Motor SAIC Motor Corp., Ltd. (formerly Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) is a Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer headquartered in Anting, Shanghai. Founded in 1955, it is currently the largest of the " Big Four" state-owned car manu ...

in 2006, focuses in

luxury cars A luxury car is a car that provides increased levels of comfort, equipment, amenities, quality, performance, and associated status compared to moderately priced cars. The term is subjective and reflects both the qualities of the car and the ...

. Roewe vehicles were initially based on technology acquired from defunct British carmaker

MG Rover MG Rover Group was the last domestically owned mass-production car manufacturer in the British motor industry. The company was formed when BMW sold the car-making and engine manufacturing assets of the original Rover Group to the Phoenix Consor ...

. SAIC was unable to purchase the rights to the Rover brand name (which was retained by BMW, subsequently sold to

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

and ultimately returned to

Jaguar Land Rover Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is the holding company of Jaguar Land Rover Limited (also known as JLR), and is a British multinational automobile manufacturer which produces luxury vehicles and sport utility vehicles. Jaguar Land Rover is a ...

) and created the Roewe marque as a replacement. It is sold in most export markets outside China under the MG marque.

Name

The name ''Roewe'' originates from SAIC's failure to acquire the Rover brand name from BMW c. 2005 (it was instead sold to

in 2006,China debut for Rover-based car
bbc.co.uk, Monday, 20 November 2006, 20:41 GMT and the brand is currently owned by

). Composed of the

Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the Written Chinese, writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are k ...

s ''Róng'' and ''wēi'', which roughly mean "glorious power", the name is a

transliteration Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one writing system, script to another that involves swapping Letter (alphabet), letters (thus ''wikt:trans-#Prefix, trans-'' + ''wikt:littera#Latin, liter-'') in predictable ways, such as ...

of ''Rover'', although SAIC has stated that it is derived from ''Löwe'', the German word for lion.

History

SAIC purchased technology relating to the

Rover 75 The Rover 75 is an executive car manufactured initially by the Rover Group and later by MG Rover, under the Rover marque and available over a single generation with front-wheel drive in either saloon/sedan or station wagon/estate configuratio ...

and

Rover 25 The Rover 200 Series, and later the Rover 25, are a series of small family cars that were produced by British manufacturer Rover (marque), Rover from 1984 until 2005. There have been three distinct generations of the Rover 200. The first gener ...

after the 2005 collapse of

, and the Roewe marque first appeared on a version of the 75, the

Roewe 750 The Roewe 750 is an executive saloon that was produced by Roewe in China between 2006 and 2016, based on the Rover 75. Overview Launched in October 2006, and codenamed ''SAC528'' during development, the wheelbase of the Roewe 750 is stretched by ...

. Originally intending to purchase all assets of the failed British company, SAIC was outbid by

Nanjing Automobile Nanjing Automobile is a state-owned enterprise with a history that dates from 1947,

. In 2007, SAIC merged with Nanjing Auto, so it now controls those MG Rover properties, such as the MG name and a Birmingham factory, the Longbridge plant, that it was initially unable to acquire. English engineering firm

Ricardo Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname. People Given name *Ricardo de Araújo Pereira, Portugu ...

assisted the development of early Roewe models and set up a new company in the UK, Ricardo (2010) Consultants Ltd, which helped bring the 750 to market. According to SAIC, work on the vehicle was also done in China. In 2007, Ricardo (2010) Consultants was purchased by SAIC and renamed SAIC Motor UK Technical Centre. It employs over 200 British ex-Rover engineers. The Roewe brand unveiled the Roewe Vision-R electric concept car at the 2015 Guangzhou Auto Show in China that and previews a new generation of the Roewe design language for the Chinese brand, featuring sharp creases and a full width grille that evolved from the previous Roewe shield grille. The new design theme was applied to products launched shortly after such as the Roewe i5, i6, RX3, RX5, RX7, RX8, and Marvel X, as well as facelifts of the Roewe 950 and Roewe 360 Plus.

Current models

Roewe Clever The Roewe Clever or SAIC Clever (科莱威) is an all-electric car that is manufactured by the Chinese manufacturer SAIC Motor. Overview The Clever was launched in March 2020 as an electric city car aiming to replace the Roewe E50 with a 27kWh ...

— An all-electric supermini, the successor of the

Roewe E50 The Roewe E50 is an all-electric car that is manufactured by the Chinese manufacturer Roewe. Overview The E50 was originally unveiled as the E1 concept car at the 2012 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition. In November 2012, SAIC Motor in ...

. *

Roewe i5 The Roewe i5 is a subcompact car produced by SAIC Motor since 2017. Available as a sedan and as an electric station wagon, the latter was first introduced via the electric station wagon version, the Roewe Ei5, the compact station wagon debuted on ...

/Ei5 — A compact station wagon. *

Roewe i6 The Roewe i6 is a compact sedan produced by SAIC Motor under the Roewe brand, succeeding the Roewe 550. The Roewe ei6 is the hybrid version of the i6. The Roewe i6 was previewed by the Roewe Vision-R, that debuted during the 2015 Guangzhou Auto ...

/ei6/i6 Max/ei6 Max —A compact sedan *

Roewe RX3 The Roewe RX3 is a subcompact crossover manufactured by SAIC's sub brand, Roewe. The original RX3 was sold from 2017 and received an update called the RX3 Pro in 2021. A larger hybrid variant in the compact crossover SUV segment called the Lomem ...

/ RX3 Pro — A subcompact crossover *

Roewe RX5 The Roewe RX5 is a compact crossover SUV that is manufactured by SAIC Motor under the Roewe brand. The RX5 is available as a petrol-powered RX5 variant, a plug-in hybrid eRX5 variant and a pure electric ERX5 variant. The facelift model is called t ...

/eRX5/ERX5/RX5 Plus - A compact crossover, with hybrid and full-electric options. *

Roewe RX5 Max The Roewe RX5 is a compact crossover SUV that is manufactured by SAIC Motor under the Roewe brand. The RX5 is available as a petrol-powered RX5 variant, a plug-in hybrid eRX5 variant and a pure electric ERX5 variant. The facelift model is called t ...

— A more upmarket mid-size crossover based on the RX5. *

Roewe Marvel X The Rising Auto Marvel R and its predecessor, the Roewe Marvel X, are electric compact crossover SUVs manufactured by the Chinese manufacturer SAIC Group under the Roewe brand. The Roewe Marvel X was launched in 2018 and is positioned above the ...

/ Marvel R — An electric mid-size CUV * Roewe RX8 — Roewe's flagship full size SUV * Roewe RX9 *

Roewe iMAX8 The Roewe iMAX8 is a minivan produced by SAIC Motor under the Roewe marque since 2020. It was revealed in September 2020 at Auto China. Overview Concepts The Roewe iMAX8 was first previewed by the Vision-iM concept car, concept at Auto Guangzhou ...

— The Roewe iMAX8 is a

minivan Minivan (sometimes called simply as van) is a North American car classification for vehicles designed to transport passengers in the rear seating row(s), with reconfigurable seats in two or three rows. The equivalent classification in Europe i ...

produced by Roewe since 2020.

Concepts

* Roewe Whale / Roewe Jing *

Roewe Vision-R Roewe is a vehicle marque created by the Chinese automaker SAIC Motor in 2006, focuses in luxury cars. Roewe vehicles were initially based on technology acquired from defunct British carmaker MG Rover. SAIC was unable to purchase the rights t ...

Former models

Roewe 950 The Roewe 950 is a large four door saloon that is produced by Roewe in China, and is based on the 2010 Buick LaCrosse. It was first shown to the public at the 2012 Beijing International Motor Show, and commenced production in April 2012. Overvi ...

/ e950 — Executive sedan and the flagship model of the Roewe range *

(2006-2016) — A mid-size luxury sedan, based on the

* Roewe 550 (2008-2014) — A compact car, also based on the

* Roewe 360/360 Plus. — A compact sedan, replacement for the outdated Roewe 350 * Roewe 350 (2010-2014) — A compact car * Roewe W5 (2011-2017) — A mid-size SUV, based on the SsangYong Kyron *

(2013-2016) — An all-electric supermini * Roewe 850 (????-????) — A full-size luxury sedan, based on the

SsangYong Chairman The SsangYong Chairman is a full-size luxury car that was manufactured by South Korean automaker SsangYong from 1997 to 2017. The original model was renamed Chairman H in 2008, with a new model introduced in the same year and designated Chairm ...

Product Gallery

Former products: File:Roewe E50 001 China 2014-04-20.JPG, Roewe e50 File:Roewe 350 facelift China 2012-06-02.jpg, Roewe 350 File:Roewe 360 01 China 2016-04-16.jpg, Roewe 360 File:Roewe 550 2 China 2012-06-02.JPG, Roewe 550 File:Roewe e550 China 2016-04-16.jpg, Roewe e550 File:Roewe 750 01 China 2012-04-22.JPG, Roewe 750 File:Roewe 950 01 China 2012-06-02.JPG, Roewe 950 File:Roewe W5 China 2016-04-17.jpg, Roewe W5 File:Roewe 360 Plus 01.jpg, Roewe 360 Plus File:Roewe i5 004.jpg, Roewe i5 File:Roewe Ei5 002.jpg, Roewe Ei5 File:Roewe i6 02 China 2017-03-19.jpg, Roewe i6 File:Roewe ei6 01 China 2018-03-06.jpg, Roewe ei6 File:Roewe e950 front.jpg, Roewe e950 File:Roewe RX3 01.jpg, Roewe RX3 File:Roewe RX5 01 China 2017-03-19.jpg, Roewe RX5 File:2017 Roewe eRX5 (front).jpg, Roewe eRX5 File:Roewe Marvel X 001 China 2019-04-04.jpg, Roewe Marvel X File:Roewe RX8 005.jpg, Roewe RX8 Current products: File:Roewe i5 facelift IMG001.jpg, Roewe i5 File:Roewe ei6 Max 20210320.jpg, Roewe ei6 Max File:Roewe RX3 Pro 001.jpg, Roewe RX3 Pro File:Roewe RX5 ePlus IMG001.jpg, Roewe RX5 ePlus File:Roewe iMax 8 001.jpg, Roewe iMax 8 File:Roewe RX5 Max facelift 001.jpg, Roewe RX5 Max File:Roewe Ei5 facelift 002.jpg, Roewe Ei5 File:Roewe ER6 007.jpg, Roewe ER6 File:Roewe Marvel R 001.jpg, Roewe Marvel R

Sales

A total of 155,336 Roewe vehicles were sold in China in 2013, making it the 29th largest-selling car brand in the country in that year (and the 13th largest-selling Chinese brand).

Exports

Outside of China, Roewe-derived models are currently sold under the MG marque.SAIC expands MG line-up in Europe
bbc.co.uk, 12:38 GMT, Wednesday, 24 March 2010 In 2008, the Roewe 550 and 750 were launched in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

under the names MG 550 and MG 750, respectively. The smaller MG 350 and sporty MG 6 were displayed at the eleventh

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

Motor Show in October 2010. European sales first began in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

, with an MG-badged version of the 550. British car magazine '' Autocar'' tested the Roewe 350 in 2010 suggesting that the model would be built and sold in the UK, but Roewe denied this. Nonetheless, as of April 2011 SAIC's

MG6 __NOTOC__ British NVC community MG6 (''Lolium perenne - Cynosurus cristatus'' grassland) is one of the mesotrophic grassland communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system. It is one of four such communities associated with ...

(a reworked Roewe 550) commenced assembly at the old MG Rover plant in

Longbridge Longbridge is an area of Northfield in the south-west of Birmingham, England, located near the border with Worcestershire. Public Transport Longbridge is described as a hub for public transport with a number of bus services run by Kev's Coa ...

. The European market cars feature certain improvements over its Chinese siblings, meeting

Euro V The European emission standards are vehicle emission standards for pollution from the use of new land surface vehicles sold in the European Union and EEA member states and the UK, and ships in EU waters. The standards are defined in a seri ...

rather than

Euro IV The European emission standards are vehicle emission standards for pollution from the use of new land surface vehicles sold in the European Union and EEA member states and the UK, and ships in EU waters. The standards are defined in a seri ...

emissions standards.SAIC launches new MG car in UK
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China, 2011/04/13

References

External links

* (Chinese) {{Navboxes, list1= {{SAIC Motor {{Automotive industry in China Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 2006 SAIC Motor brands Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers Chinese brands Car brands