The Shanghai Auto Show is definitely getting better and better. Besides all the production cars, we have had a lot of concepts that reveal what awaits us in the not so distant future, and the one we have here for you isn’t any different. What you see here is the Roewe Vision-E concept that debuted at the Shanghai and, although it is easy, it shouldn’t be confused with the Skoda Vision E concept.
According to some reports, and what we found out from the debuted vehicle the production car based on the Vision-E will go into production in 2018. When that happens, it will most likely lose the concept’s suicide doors (normal deal when transferring from concept to production vehicle) as well as feature a toned down version of both the interior and exterior.
Although the info about this crossover has been hard to come by, we managed to find out that it will, besides being a pure EV with electric motors for both the front and rear axles, have electric drivetrain which will be capable of launching the SUV from 0-62 MPH in under four seconds. This is not all as it will offer a driving range of around 311 miles which is very impressive and comparable with vehicles that Tesla offers and even better in some segments.
For those who didn’t know, Roewe brand was established in 2006 by SAIC as a successor to Rover, after the Chinese automaker was unable to secure rights to the marque after BMW sold the brand to Ford, which at the time owned Jaguar and Land Rover. In 2015, SAIC managed to purchase the MG brand, and with it the technology that underpinned the Rover 25 hatch and 75 sedan, as well as its MG equivalents.
Currently, SAIC is a joint venture partner with GM and Volkswagen, and thanks to the American partner they are able to produce vehicles under the Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Baojun and Wuling nameplates, while the Volkswagen partnership allows them to make Skoda and Volkswagen models. This is the reason why I mentioned that it could be easily switched for a Skoda who also unveiled the similarly named Vision E concept at the 2017 Shanghai Show, but so far there is nothing showing that these two cars have anything in common.
