Place: Zhaoxing, Liping County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province
<p>The Roewe brand emerged after SAIC failed to acquire the Rover marque from BMW in 2005, instead it was sold to Ford in 2006. The carmakers probably feared SAIC would make SUVs competing with Land Rover... SAIC purchased technology relating to the Rover 75, but most assets were bought by Nanjing Automobile (NAC). NAC had the rights on the MG brand. In 2007 Nanjing Automobile merged with the much larger SAIC Group, which means SAIC is now controlling both Roewe and MG. Roewe's first product was the 750 launched in 2006, a revised and extended sedan based on the Rover 75. It was followed by the 550 based on the same underpinnings in 2008 and the new compact sedan 350 in 2010.
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In late 2004, SAIC already took a 51% stake in another foreign carmaker: SsangYong. The Korean carmaker filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and it was finally bought by Indian carmaker Mahindra in February 2011. The Roewe W5, launched in 2011, was Roewe's first SUV and is directly based on the SsangYong Kyron.
Rutger van der Maar
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