The Roewe 550 is a car produced by Roewe in the People's Republic of China launched at the April 2008 Beijing Motor Show. The 550 is reported to be derived from the MG Rover RDX60 project (itself based the platform

Automobile platform

An automobile platform is a shared set of common design, engineering, and production efforts, as well as major components over a number of outwardly distinct models and even types of automobiles, often from different, but related marques...

 of the Rover 75

Rover 75

The Rover 75 is an executive car produced initially by the Rover Group at Cowley, Oxfordshire, UK, and later by MG Rover at their Longbridge site in Birmingham, UK...

) which was under development when MG Rover failed.

The car, codenamed W261 during development, is the work of a joint Anglo-Chinese collaboration with ex-Rover experts at consultancy firm Ricardo 2010 and SAIC's own car development team. The 550 was previewed at the 2007 Shanghai Auto Show in the form of the Roewe W2 concept car

Concept car

A concept vehicle or show vehicle is a car made to showcase new styling and or new technology. They are often shown at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not have a chance of being produced....

.

The drivetrain uses either a 1.6 or 1.8 litre 160 bhp engine based on the Rover K engine

Rover K engine

The K-Series engine is a series of engines built by Powertrain Ltd, a sister company of MG Rover. The engine was built in two forms: a straight-four cylinder, available with SOHC and DOHC, ranging from 1.1 L to 1.8 L; and the KV6 V6 variation....

 with 2.0 litre turbo diesel forecast to join the range and a choice of five speed manual or five speed automatic transmission.

The car features a high-technology interior with digital instruments and the RMI (Roewe Multimedia Interface) digital multimedia interactive system, a multi-functional audio and video entertainment system with Bluetooth

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...

 hands-free system, USB interface and GPS

Global Positioning System

The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...

.

In 2008, the Roewe 550 was launched in Chile, rebadged as the MG

MG (car)

The MG Car Company is a former British sports car manufacturer founded in the 1920s by Cecil Kimber. Best known for its two-seat open sports cars, MG also produced saloons and coupés....

 550.

A restyled hatchback version of the Roewe 550 was announced at the 2009 Shanghai Auto Show as the MG 6

MG 6

The MG6 is a mid-size car built by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, derived from the Roewe 550 and hence distantly related to the Rover 75, sharing its front subframe...

.

External links

• Roewe Website (Chinese)
• Roewe Resource (English)