There is little that is more depressing than considering the slow, lingering death of the British car industry, but in China at least, the heart of British industry beats strong.  In a complex turn of events, both Rover and MG were bought by SAIC, and for reasons I cannot quite fathom they changed the name of Rover to ‘Roewe‘.

I have been chatting to taxi drivers and other people during this trip, and it seems that many people consider the brands to be British, and they do seem to actually be respected.  It’s odd just how much resonance the ‘noble and rich’ side of British aristocracy carries here, with all the glitz and trimmings.  Perhaps that will be what the UK becomes; a showroom for Chinese automobiles.

The Roewe 750 … rather like the Rover 75

MG – alive and kicking in Shanghai

Interesing that they spell out the whole ‘Morris Garages’ nomenclature … I doubt many people in the UK know it means that.  With so many Chinese companies shortening their names to TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms), like HTC, KHS and DEM, perhaps it makes sense to spell out its ‘Englishness’.

Yes, it really says that.