CHINESE ROVER 75 - The Many Lives Of The Rover 75 - Roewe 750

Here's the real story:

Sometime after Rover bit the dust, Roewe emerged. Roewe was made from SAIC, which was also in a deal with MG. This is one of the few cars they made.

Dude that "Bentleyfied" Roewe's interior look sick af

I'm Chinese and my dad owns one roewe 750 when i was a child, beautiful memories, now I'm in France and plan to purchase a rover 75 as my very first car

It's not a copy, it's a licence.

Is there any Roewe's in the UK?!

Here you fail to include any mention of the then UK Government's selfish failures in the final demise of Longbridge. Was that deliberate? I wonder why.

Indeed unless news of the all too frequent FAKE variety, unlikely, that Government actually put the boot in and torpedoed any chance of a Honda-ARG style partnership with a Chinese Manufacturer for selfish political reasons.

In addition, having called in the receivers at Longbridge in 2005, then allowed the MG-Rover IPRs to be sold off for peanuts.

Previously, a lifelong supporter, I have never voted for that Political Party since and will never again do so because of that and their throw wide the nation's doors policy..

MUG UK>. Land of the self-inflicted.

This just about sums up the ineptitude of the Rover board!
Everything China has ever made was stolen from somewhere, except Covid, they made that!

I want one best looking Rover 75 ever

They've ruined the back end and eliminated its timeless lines...

I have a 600 and feel like it is hardly talked about. I will sadly sell my '96 2.0 Ti (only 120k km), in favor of a 2005 Renault Laguna V6. Will miss the car and it's pressence a lot. I just cant justify the prices of importing the spare parts straight from Brittain!

Rowvee Wrong Way! Ford mocked it and said "wrong way" LOL

I own this car from MG for many years (MG 750)...it's amazing ❤

Somewhere Tom, is a BBC Midlands Today two-part news feature that followed an ex-MG Rover manager who went to work for Nanjing NAC & was overseeing the dismantling & loading into sea containers of the tooling & assets from Longbridge. Amazingly, BBC Birmingham then went out to China to do the part two follow-up of this manager who had moved out there...It was sobering & somewhat depressing to watch..!

The JV with Brilliance seemed a bit odd/probable nonstarter since they were mainly a van manufacturer who had started producing saloons which frankly weren't very good. However that didn't stop BMW starting a JV with them later. The rear boot line on the SAIC version was a Chinese stipulation - may not have been seen in UK models if MGR hadn't gone bust. It seems odd that the tourer/estate didn't go back into production - might have been an opportunity to do a CKD build in Longbridge a bit more sophisticated than the MG6 operation. I wonder how close Nanjing and SAIC were before the Chinese government told them to get together - period photos of engines for Nanjing and SAIC were identical in terms of labelling, etc. Might also be worth noting that the Chinese produced a modified version of the K series engine (N series?) which fixed a lot of the reliability issues it was previously noted for.

I’m Italian and now I’m 45 years old.
I’m my 20 I was in love with 2 car brands, Rover and BMW.
I’m my 23 I bought my first Rover, a 820 sterling full loaded, I’m my 25 I bought a British green 820 ti lusso 200cv turbo. It was my proud I loved that car above and beyond any other car in the world, not even a Ferrari !
Then I decided to go back to university and my father force me to sell my Rover😢.
Years later after my uni I bought another 820 turbo… but it never was like the green and unfortunately the previous owner mess up her mechanical and the engine literally exploded. So I scrapped the car😢.
Years later I was tempted to buy a 75 but in Italy it was not easy find parts… so I gave up. Then I have relocate my self many times in Italy, Australia and Uk. And for this reason I never had the chance to buy and preserve another Rover.
If I were rich I would probably buy the entire range of rover form the 100 to the 800 and from the 25 to the 75 and MG model as well. I loved also the Range Rover of the same years…
I said I was in love also with BMW…
I have never forgiven BMW, they destroyed Rover and they make sure that no one can revival it.
Unforgivable!
For this reason all these years, I have never considered to by a BMW… I haven't forgiven them yet

I bought a brand new one in 1998, thereafter I have enjoyed 6 more - a brilliant car. One of my all time favourites

I have a 1.8T Tourer a very useful car . The origional engine needed changing out so I put an engine from a 1.8T MG 6 in . The pre 2014 MG6 has the K series engine only the problems associated with the Rover engine have been sorted out .

The Roewe was the ONLY good looking car in the Roewe line up, the rest were trajic looking Asio-bland plastic blobs

The Rover 75 was the best car Leyland, Rover, Austin, Whatever!! Built, cruelly lampooned by the misguided British🙄 ah. hem!! Foreign press!!

That car show footage was recorded by the worst cameraman in history

Just to correct you on a couple of points.
SAIC didn't manufacturer the MG7, NAC (Nanjing Automobile) did. At the time a totally separate company from SAIC. NAC bought MG Rover's remaining assets from the receivers including the MG marque. Unlike SAIC they didn't get any blueprints, the cars had to be reverse engineered, they did however get all the tooling for the cars and K Series powertrains. They asked Lotus for help in improving the K Series, their own version becoming the N Series, fitted into the MG7, MG3 SW (Streetwise) and TF only.

SAIC meanwhile produced their own tooling for their Roewe 750 and their own version of the K Series re-engineered to become the TCi-Tech.
Of course later on the two companies merged.

If MG Rover had continued to exist any 25/ZR and 75/ZT models built at Longbridge would have been under licence from SAIC!

The Borrower is Servant of the Lender.When the car maker is bankrupt, then you have to pay the piper. China's win!

Bmw ruined rover. Asset stripped it for a new mini and land Rover ranges.

Hmm I recall Jeremy Clarkson saying that the Rover 75 , upon its launch was so old fashioned , it ought to have had a thatched roof . I dont normaly take to modern cars but with my mother still driving a 75 to this day I have to compare it to my Rover 820 Vitesse and frankly there is no comparisson. My Rover 820 is much more modern , much more airy light and responsive than ever the 75 was and the 75 is so claustrophobic compared to my 820 ...even the controls on my car clutch steering brakes are much lighter and easier to operate . I dont mind the 75 being killed off , dont regret it although I reckon the 800 series had at least another 5 years production value left in it. I hasten to add that my 820 has now 400k miles under its belt and apart from a squeak on the ns front , its drives like new .

Roewe is just a knock-off of Rover itself while essentially making the same cars, without the rights holders of Rover consent.

Most counterfeit Chinese cars are utter crap. Why some of them continue to old engine designs is interesting though.

Clearly if you sell your main assets (licenses/intellectual property) for 10% of their value - the company balance sheet/ value is completely destroyed. Plus there is no reason for anyone to buy the company then - you have what you wanted. Wait for the inevitable bankruptcy, grab anything left for a bargain. Think your analysis is fundamentally correct. And of course, the directors have already secured/ring fenced money for themselves. Disgraceful… MGRover was not destroyed by workers, unions, or government- but corporate asset stripping. First BMW - grabbing Mini and Land Rover technology/designs - then Phoenix 4 scavenging the remains.

Well other than having a 75 myself does your t shirt say your going to Bloodstock this year Tom?

I loved the 75

I think, SAIC only bought MG Rover's assets back then for only 2 reasons. The first reason was that they want MG Rover's technology especially the 75's platform to make their own cars. The second and more important one was that they want to be able to claim that their car is "not Chinese" but "British". I think they succeed in this regard. In my country of Thailand when SAIC began selling cars here, they made their customers to believe that the new MG cars was British. If you tell an MG's owner/driver back then that the new MG6 WASN'T a british car, they would skin you alive!

hiya tom, you forgot a little something, the mg6, ive got one, all the wiring, floor pan, engine bay, etc, is all rover 75!

Total shame, had x2 Rovers and had both a long time without issues last one I had I sold in 2020 great cars, phoenix 4 and bmw all contributed to its fall and Chinese in end.. they should all hang their head in shame.

Are parts still been made for these cars

A sad story indeed.

absolutely brilliant video

Really hate the Audi-esque grille. But that's designed to appeal to the Chinese as it's a sign of affluence (hence the bugger ugly Audi, BMW and Merc grilles on newer models)
Great video dude

Never a true story told, they should of been questioned by law over the handling of everything they did and didn't do. I wonder if they're still alive those cowboys, probably sitting somewhere sunny all year round.

As Classic Rover 75 2.5 V6 fan were any Roewe 750 ever imported into Europe/UK ? Could one get hold of a 2016 Roewe 750 via the UK MG dealer net work? Excellent video on the intricacies of the classic Rover ever made ! Start collecting now folks....Best regards Alex

Enjoyed watching

I hope not with k sires engine that blows a head gasket.?

Could you make a video on the Power train G series diesel engine please.

Wherever I drive my OEW mk1 Rover 75 people always look and point or ask me about the car. One person even run up to me in a car park and asked me if I wanted to sell her. I would never ever sell my beautiful car love her to bits

I would be interested in a video on project drive 👍

Excellent Tom 👍 thanks mate.

The montego and maestro various rebrands is a good story

Where are all the billionaires when you need them? If I were Dick Branston I would resurrect Rover now.

It was the MG/Rover and their arrogance thinking the Chinese were an easy touch, but the Chinese knew exactly what they were doing. Apply the MG/Rover execs with drink and promises and the Chinese got what the wanted designs and integral prints and rights for the 75. In words they sold their own company and its work force down the river over the waterfall

Thanks tom

Great video….a period of BL’s history that always interests me is the early 80s following the Government bail out which enabled them to release the Metro - they also had some cash left to revise the Allegro, Marina, Maxi and Princess, to refresh an essentially 70s range of cars for a few years until the launch of the Maestro and Montego - these facelifts are fascinating to me - all of them stopgap cars - do you fancy doing a video on these? Keep up the great work - always appreciated!

Interesting stuff Tom, great research, would love to hear more of project drive too!