Foiled from using the Rover brand name by Ford exercising its right-of-refusal and snapping it up to shelve (officially ‘protecting’ the Land Rover brand), MG Rover technology owner Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC) has opted for ‘Roewe’ – which reportedly means ‘honour and prestige’ in Chinese – as its new brand name.
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The Daily Telegraph opined that the tricky pronunciation of Roewe, transcribed ‘Rong Wei’ in Chinese, appears to be a clone of the name Rover, while it is pronounced roughly “roo-eevey,” according to the Wall Street Journal, which said the word is derived from the German word for lion (loewe) and is not only close to the actual Rover name, but to names like Spain’s Loewe luxury-goods maker.
The WSJ added that the name pronounced in Chinese sounds like “wrong way.”
SAIC’s new cars, due to be introduced in China on 24 October, reportedly also will wear a badge with lions on a red and black shield.
The supplier had better get busy, then.
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