April17
The Beijing Motor Show is right around the corner and the wraps are starting to come off models schedule to debut at the show. The latest preview is of the Roewe 550 sedan, a rather impressive design from a Chinese automaker.
The 550’s exterior is a sleek design with a high beltline. Its lines are taut and its wheels fit snuggly in the car’s wheel wells. The front end styling has a hint of Volkswagen in it, but for the most part, the Roewe 550 has a design theme all its own.
On the inside, the 550 continues to impress. Its gauge cluster is a very unique setup, with a center-mounted analog tachometer housed under a wide hood. Continuing the luxury theme is a center-mounted LCD navigation screen just above the center stack.
Interior materials and fit and finish appear to be top notch, especially for a Chinese built vehicle.
Not much else is known about the Roewe 550, but more should be revealed after the car’s official unveiling in just a few days.
Dang, that’s actually quite nice.
I never though a chinese car could look so good.
Looks like a Camry-Audi combo…not bad.
am not warming up to that dash.
looks good - but the front does look jetta-ish, side view looks audi-ish and the rear looks infiniti G sedan-ish , interesting Key though
Quite a leap from their older crap … and the improvement will continue.
Bastard child of a Cirrus and a Passat.
Can the chinese not design any unique automobiles?
Is it on the Rover 75 platform?
Amazing, but unfortunately it is still Chinese.
Just because they got some European company to design the car, doesn’t mean that it will drive well, be reliable, etc. Remember that cars like this, and the Brilliance (stupid name) line are mostly designed by companies like Pinifirina.
I can’t believe I’m saying this about a Chinese car, but it looks pretty sweet, inside and out. Being Chinese, I expect it to be terrible when it comes to safety. But, this car has already surprised. So, safety may be something else it surprises in.
not bad
The front says Chrysler Sebring, especially the headlights and chrome grill. The profile looks like a BMW 5-series, and the tailights say Elantra. Overall not bad.
I’m curious why some still insist that despite generally positive posts on many Chinese built car’s styling that they will be rolling death traps? Are you expecting the wheels to fall off, pistons to come flying through the hood or what? I’m not saying they’re ready to take on the likes of Audi or BMW, but how far can they really be from the likes of, say, the Koreans?
^Johnnycanuck…look up the crash test results of all the latest Chinese cars.
The Brilliance BS6 was just tested by EuroNCAP and got 1 star out of 5. The Landwind did the same.
To my knowledge, every single Chinese-engineered car built has catastrophically failed every crash test they’ve entered.
That’s not to say they aren’t improving. But we’ll see when we’ll see, I guess.
And for the record, the Roewe 550 isn’t based on the 75. The Roewe 750 is.
Thanks inline6: I had no idea they were that bad. I suppose I really shouldn’t be surprised given the quality of most everything else they produce.
does look like a passat on the outside, the dash reminds me of a bmw, quite nice, too bad its chinese…o wait, what isn,t ?!
Yeah, seriously…the Chery Amulet, Jialiang Landwind, and the Brilliance BS6 have all fared terribly. It’s sorta shocking to see cars perform that badly.
I really like the way this 550 looks inside and out. Makes me wish the British had produced it before SAIC bought ‘em out.
ARMY Strong, I see some BMW 5-Series in the dash too.
And Rover headlights.
And Hyundai Genesis Coupe rear.
Yea, it’s not bad.
This car is definetly a compilation of many other cars, but it is a nice looking car. One would still have to see the finished product. It’ll probably be crappy.
Guys you can call me a racist, but it is not car designed in China or by Chinese. I don’t care that it is conglomerate of designs and lines, most of cars are, it looks good. Actually, I always liked Rover designs, it’s famous British quality that killed the brand or sold it to China. I recall when Rover was selling it’s models based on Acura/Honda Legend: Legend was great (I owned one and it lasted for 15 years even my 70 year old mother driving it) Rover was horrible with identical mechanicals - they introduced electrical gremlins (not AMC)
Front looks like a Sebring, typical chinks copying our products. NO RICE FOR YOU ANYMORE GOOKS!!!
Meh, doesn’t look that bad, but what’s there really to like about it?
It’s chinese innovation that’s what. Because they are finally doing something other than picking rice and eating dogs. I agree, it’s not that great looking. Id rather drive a motorized shopping cart.
got a lot of current vw lines in the design.
looks VERY nice indeed. i don’t like the dash and i hate caddy-esque digital speed readouts… hopefully they’ll change it.
#21, if sebring looked 10% this good it’d be flying off the shelves. chrysler deserves to be out of business selling crap like that. you know what is worse than the sebring’s look? any chrysler’s interior. utter POS. i’ve seen better interior in a $20k hyundai than in a $40k 300C SRT8.
besides, who isn’t drawing inspiration on someone else’s design? how many “hoftmeister kinks” have you seen lately? (impala, infiniti m, lexus, etc)
But really very derivative. A buffet of many mainstream cars. And where are the comments from the asian robot about how we can’t assume dependability till it’s been around for a hundred years?