Advertisement seen in a shop in the Sanlitun area in Beijing, frequently visited by foreigners. I saw it back in 2011 but the shop still exists today. A Chinese company offered a Roewe 750 for rent, describing the poor car as ‘British Old Fashion’. That must hurt! But it was not totally untrue.
SAIC bought the rights to the Rover 75 in 2005, when its design was already six years old, and turned it into the Roewe 750. Production of the 750 began in 2006 and continued all the way until 2012. Over the years, SAIC added several new variants and power trains, including a long-wheelbase version and a hybrid.
The image that the rental company used is a factory photo of the then-new 2009 Roewe 750 V6 Advantage Edition, priced at 217.800 yuan.
This was a mid-spec long-wheelbase car powered by a 2.5 liter 24-valve V6 engine. Output was 184 hp and 230 Nm. The motor was mated to a 5-speed automatic gearbox, sending horses to the front wheels.
The Advantage package offered “free vehicle purchase tax or 20.000 kilometer free fuel”, which was a pretty good deal. I guess the owner of the rental shop just couldn’t resist that, no matter how British old fashioned the Roewe 750 really was.