On April 24, at the auto show in Shanghai, one of the biggest players in the Chinese car market—the SAIC Group corporation—presented the luxurious concept car Roewe Pearl. And although the technical details are still shrouded in mystery, the main event here is the design. And this is not just a nice turn of phrase—after all, the exterior of the Pearl is the responsibility of Jozef Kaban, the designer who created the legendary Bugatti Veyron and several generations of the Skoda Octavia.
This is Kaban’s first high-profile premiere after moving to work with a Chinese automaker in 2024. And it is, without exaggeration, impressive.
The new Roewe Pearl is a state room on wheels, with dimensions and forms clearly oriented towards the English luxury class icon—the Rolls-Royce Phantom. An extremely long horizontal hood, a cabin shifted rearward, a vertical front end, and huge sides—everything hints at British inspiration. But at the same time, the Pearl does not look like a copy: its exterior has its own character.
The visually solid glazing is particularly impressive, where the side windows seem to flow into the windshield. A stepped window line and refined geometric facets on the rear add sophistication. And also—the asymmetric door architecture: there are no passenger doors on the left, while on the right, conversely, there is no central pillar and a suicide door is installed.
The Roewe Pearl is not just another Chinese concept, but a statement of a new philosophy for the representative class from the Middle Kingdom. And if all goes according to plan, a production version will appear in just 2–3 years. It is obvious that SAIC aims not only to catch up with but also to surpass the West—at least in the realm of style.
