From the Roewe family of models, the Roewe 350 was just launched and is far from needing a replacement. The Roewe W5, if tested, would at most be a minor facelift. The body silhouette can easily confirm that it cannot be the Roewe 350. Although the Roewe 550 has been on the market for nearly three years, it remains a completely new development by SAIC Roewe with a quite solid market performance. Even the fastest-updating Korean manufacturers wouldn’t consider replacing such a successful three-year-old model. Therefore, through the spy photos' outline design, it's easy to rule out this car being the Roewe 550. The Roewe 750, despite not having been on the Chinese market for too long, its prototype appeared in the late 1990s, making it over a decade old. The problem of an aging model is undeniable. After a brief "new car honeymoon period," the Roewe 750's market performance became mediocre, even obscure, with one major reason being the outdated styling. Though spy shots of the facelifted Roewe 750 have been exposed, it can only serve as a "delaying aging" measure. For Roewe to make a comeback in the mid-to-upper sedan market, it must redesign a model that fits current market trends. And at this point, testing the next-generation Roewe 750 and officially launching it sometime next year makes perfect sense across all aspects.
Of course, the more likely explanation that this is the next-generation Roewe 750 lies in the test vehicle's overall proportions (which will be discussed later). Just from the pictures, you can see that this car is not small, belonging to the 5-meter class of vehicles, which coincides with the Roewe 750's positioning. Feedback from the spy photo team also confirms this: This car really isn't small!
The current Roewe 750's platform comes from Rover from over a decade ago, with BMW involvement during its development, featuring a rather "non-mainstream" suspension design. Based on such a platform, developing a new generation model that significantly surpasses the current Roewe 750 while reasonably optimizing performance and cost is almost an "impossible task" for both SAIC and the original Rover team. The best method is to find the most suitable platform within existing resources.
For SAIC’s cooperation with General Motors on platform technology, it’s no longer just hearsay. From the current information, the next-generation Roewe 750 will be based on GM's Epsilon II platform with little doubt, and Pan Asia will also be involved in the design of this car. There are two Epsilon II platform cars domestically, so does the Roewe 750 originate from the Buick Regal or the LaCrosse? The spy photos give the answer.
For mid-to-upper sedans, size differences basically manifest as rear seat space differences, further clarified as door size differences. The Buick Regal and LaCrosse are like this; their front door sizes are not very different, but the rear doors of the LaCrosse are clearly longer. Thus, although the spy photos don't provide exact measurements, judging by the proportion of the front and rear door sizes, we can roughly determine that the width of the front door of the Buick Regal is significantly larger than the rear door, whereas for the LaCrosse, the widths of the front and rear doors at the waistline are basically the same. By simply measuring the side images of the front and rear doors of the spy car, it can be seen that the dimensions at the waistline of the front and rear doors of this test car are roughly equal. This sufficiently indicates that the Roewe 750 will be a model focusing on rear seat space like the LaCrosse, rather than overly emphasizing driving like the Regal.
Although the Roewe 750 model is old, its size is not small. Whether in terms of length, wheelbase, or actual space performance, it qualifies as a B+ level model. According to convention, the next-generation Roewe 750 should not be smaller than the older model. Therefore, the design shown in the spy photos is also consistent with the long-standing positioning of the Roewe 750.
Meanwhile, from the overall design contour, the test car shows a high degree of similarity to the LaCrosse, much more so than the Regal. Especially in the side window contours, which best reflect the design origins of a model, the test car is almost identical to the LaCrosse, with only slight adjustments made to the rear triangular windows.
Of course, as a completely new development by SAIC, the next-generation Roewe 750 cannot simply be a reskinned version of the LaCrosse. Even if SAIC were willing, General Motors probably wouldn't allow it. Therefore, there are still some differences in the overall design of this model compared to the LaCrosse.
The biggest difference lies in the body lines, where the next-generation Roewe 750 appears slightly longer and slimmer, aligning with the "elegance" promoted by the current Roewe 750. Judging from the proportions in the spy photos, the wheelbase of the next-generation Roewe 750 may be similar to the LaCrosse, but the front and rear overhangs are longer, especially the front overhang, which extends forward significantly. This not only enhances the impression of the next-generation Roewe 750 being "slender and elegant" but also meets domestic consumers' preference for "larger is better" in this class of vehicles. Judging from the LaCrosse's 5-meter car length, the next-generation Roewe 750's length could exceed 5 meters, greatly surpassing the current model's 4865mm size and potentially becoming the largest B-class car domestically.
Regarding power, the spy photos cannot interpret this and can only continue to speculate. The ideal solution would naturally be to use GM's powertrain. However, doing so would result in too much similarity between the Roewe 750 and GM models, inevitably leading to internal competition. If the Roewe 750 is positioned lower, it could harm the brand image of the LaCrosse. Therefore, the possibility of the next-generation Roewe 750 directly copying the LaCrosse's powertrain is slim. A more ideal approach would be for the entire LaCrosse series to upgrade to SIDI engines, while the Roewe 750 uses the phased-out non-direct injection 2.0L and 2.4L engines.
If even this isn't possible, then SAIC's own engines would have to be used. The main power option would naturally be the 1.8T version currently in the Roewe 750. Although this engine isn't particularly new, market feedback indicates that its actual performance is commendable. As for the 2.5L V6, it is non-mainstream for the current Roewe family, and if introduced, it could only serve to enhance the brand image. Additionally, if SAIC is willing, using the 1.8L DVVT engine from the Roewe 550 (or expanding to 2.0L) on the next-generation Roewe 750 is feasible. Despite concerns about "small horse pulling a big cart," it can meet basic needs for owners who don't prioritize power. In terms of matching, there's no need to worry about SAIC. They can integrate the 1.8T engine onto a longitudinal platform SUV, so for the next-generation Roewe 750, which belongs to a transverse platform, it would be a piece of cake.
No matter how you look at it, the next-generation Roewe 750 is worth looking forward to, and describing its changes compared to the current Roewe 750 as earth-shattering is not an exaggeration. As long as quality is guaranteed and pricing is reasonable upon launch, it will reverse the current Roewe 750's declining trend and has the potential to become the first truly competitive self-owned model against joint-venture B-class cars.