Roewe 550 - the next MG?

By Keith Adams Motor Shows 22 April 2008 12:53 The new Roewe 550 unveiled at Beijing this week is Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation’s promising new mid-range hatch, but could yet turn into the next MG saloon - and be built in Europe. Although it doesn’t look like a groundbreaking effort, the Roewe 550 is one of the Beijing motor show’s hottest debutants. Designed as SAIC's successor to the Rover 45, the car has been designed and engineered in Britain by ex-MG Rover engineers.

Gumpert back with the Gumpert Tornante at Geneva

The Gumpert Tornante will debut at Geneva We realised at the end of last Summer that Gumpert had been very quiet. We’d run a few stories – for example when the Gumpert Apollo S et a Nurburgring record – but really, very little. And then we discovered that Gumpert had been on the edge of financial oblivion and had laid off almost all its staff.

Volkswagen Passat Alltrack: The VW Allroad arrives

The VW Passat Alltrack - debuts in Tokyo Volkswagen has jumped on to the Allroad bandwagon with its own take on Audi’s faux off-roader, with the reveal of the 2012 VW Passat Alltrack. As you would expect, the Passat Alltrack is a butched-up Passat Estate with a raised ride height, extra bits of plastic round the bumpers, skid plates, flared side sills and 4WD – VW’s 4MOTION – for more traction in boot sale car parks. But when you don’t need the 4WD, around 90 poer cent of the drive is through the front wheels – saving fuel – with the rear wheel drive only coming in to play when you start to slip and slide.