This is a Roewe 750 S, seen on a parking lot in south Beijing in the summer of 2024. The good Roewe looked great for its years. It was painted in a classy dark blue with tinted windows and gray multi-spoke alloy wheels.
The Roewe brand is owned by Chinese car conglomerate SAIC. Roewe was founded in 2006. The Roewe 750 is based on the Rover 75. The rights to the Rover 750 + engines were acquired from defunct British carmaker MG Rover. However, SAIC didn’t have the right to use the Rover name, so they came up with Roewe, which sounds somewhat similar.
The Chinese name of the Roewe brand is Rongwei (荣威). Production of the Roewe 750 in China started in 2006 and lasted until 2016 (!). Over the years, Roewe updated the car many times, with new designs and new engines, but the basic British looks always remained the same.
In 2009, the Roewe 750 received its first major facelift. The original Rover front was replaced by a large Audi-style grille with lots of shine. The car we have here is a post-facelift 750 S model. The S was the base trim level. Other trim levels were D, EX, E, and FL.
No matter the trim level, the Roewe 750 always had this beautiful luxurious interior. This is the facelifted car so it also has the updated dashboard with a fancy infotainment system, complete with a small screen and a CD player. The beige leather seats look comfy and the wood looks very British. The owner added a seat cover and a steering wheel cover. The instrument panel comes with classy white dials. At the time, SAIC really wanted the Roewe 750 to be ‘European’. Chinese car buyers still believed Western stuff was better than Chinese stuff, so Roewe had to create a Western look and feel for the car. It worked, the 750 sold very well until almost the end.
Chinese car makers usually fit slightly shorter benches in the rear cabin, so Chinese-made cars always have more space in the back. Back in the 2000s, most Chinese folks were comparatively small compared to tall Western fols, so fitting a shorter bench was okay. These days, however, the difference is much smaller, so Chinese car makers don’t get away with that kind of simple trick anymore!
The Roewe 750 S was powered by a 1.8-liter turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine. This motor was originally an MG Rover unit and produced locally by SAIC. Output in 2009 was 160 hp and 215 Nm. The engine was mated to a five-speed AMT, sending all horses to the front wheels. The top speed was 205 km/h and fuel consumption was a steep 8.7 liters per 100 kilometers. But nobody cared about that. Petrol was cheap in China in those days!
Even the Roewe logo looked kind of British, with styled lions and all of that. Roewe still uses this logo today. Characters on the left: 上汽集团, SAIC Group.
In 2009, the Roewe 750 S 1.8 T sold for 172.800 yuan. That was a good deal. The 750 was a pretty car, large, loaded with luxury, and with that European pedigree.