ROVER has premiered its new 'quintessentially British' luxury saloon at the British International Motor Show which opened at the NEC, Birmingham, on Tuesday. Success for the Rover 75 is essential and the car to take the Midlands manufacturer into the new millennium is being launched using the motto 'One of Britain's fine cars' - a slogan first used by Rover in the 1930s.

Rover bosses may not be acknowledging the all-new executive Rover 75 which replaces the 600 and 800 models as the manufacturer's 'make or break' car, but its launch clearly signals a new dawn for the company. On sale in the UK next March It is the first Rover to be designed wholly in-house for more than 20 years (the 600 and 800 were collaborations with Honda). The last was the SD1 range of five-door executive hatchbacks, launched in 1976. The R75 sets the scene for Rover's future product strategy. With about 80% of R75 sales destined for the corporate sector, fleet acceptance is crucial to the future success of both the new car and Rover, even if executives refuse to acknowledge the 75 as 'make or break' for the company.

The manufacturer says the 75 will compete head-to-head with executive models from prestige manufacturers such as the Audi A4, Mercedes-Benz C-class, and BMW 3-series. Fleet NewsNet understands the 75 will cost from £19,000 to £25,000, with service and maintenance costs significantly reduced from the outgoing 600 and 800 models and residual values approaching those of Audis and BMWs.