Recently, according to a number of media reports, following the official suspension of the Volkswagen Jetta model, Santana, which is based on the Volkswagen PQ25 platform, will also announce the suspension of production.
According to a suspected technical transformation project plan of SAIC Volkswagen Yizheng Factory from 2022 to 2023 circulating on the Internet, the five models of the new Santana, Santana Horner, Xinrui, Xindong and tharu (Tuyue) will be discontinued after the technical transformation, and will be put into production in the medium term to change Tuyue, Replace Lingdu, Polo and Tujiao.
On November 12, the relevant person in charge of SAIC Volkswagen told Red Star Capital Bureau: "More than 30 years ago, SAIC Volkswagen introduced the Santana brand to the Chinese market, creating a precedent for a joint venture between Chinese automobiles and serving more than 6.24 million car owners so far. At present, the sales volume of Santana brand terminals is stable (cumulative sales exceeded 126,000 from January to September 2021). In the future, SAIC Volkswagen will formulate relevant product plans according to the actual market situation. At present, there is no clear official message that the production will be discontinued. ”
SAIC Volkswagen's new Santana exhibited at the 2016 Golden Autumn Auto Show in Hainan according to IC photo
While there is no clear word from SAIC Volkswagen, Santana does suspend production.
The relevant person in charge of SAIC Volkswagen Yizheng Factory told the media that "our current plan is to suspend the production of Santana models from next year" and that "the suspension of production does not mean that it is abandoned, but the need for upgrading".
The person in charge also revealed that in the future, the new car will be designed to reduce the overall fuel consumption, and will provide several power options, which can be switched to hybrid or pure electric version at any time.
According to the model technical transformation project plan, the models that are planned to be discontinued are all entry-level models with relatively low profits for SAIC Volkswagen, with a total design capacity of 448,800 units per year for the five models, while the design capacity of the newly replaced four models is still 448,800 units per year.
Image according to Weibo
In fact, sales were not the main cause of Santana's production stoppage. From January to September 2021, the Santana brand sold more than 126,000 units, compared with SAIC Volkswagen's retail sales of 994,700 units in the first three quarters. As can be seen, Santana is still Volkswagen's signature car.
As for the reason for Santana's suspension of production, the industry believes that it lies in the "double credit policy".
In 2020, the average fuel consumption (l/100 km) of SAIC Volkswagen reached a standard value of 5.18 liters, and Santana's fuel consumption per 100 kilometers was 5.6 liters. In other words, for every Santana produced, SAIC Volkswagen needs to use 0.42 points to offset the penalty of non-compliance with emissions.
Red Star Capital Bureau learned that the current price of double points is about 6,000 yuan / cent. Based on this calculation, each Santana has to pay 0.25 million yuan for this.
Santana's new model 2021 is priced at 86,900-11.19 million yuan. According to SAIC's 11.48% sales gross profit margin and 5.3% sales net profit margin, the gross profit of each Santana sold is 10,000-12,800 yuan, and the net profit is 0.46 million-0.59 million yuan. Considering that Santana is likely to fall short of SAIC's average profit margins, production and sales santana may even sell one at a loss.
According to public information, Volkswagen introduced the first 100 Santana units into the Chinese market in 1983 in the form of full-component assembly (CKD), and later became the first model for Volkswagen to achieve domestic production in the Chinese market. Since then, in just 3 years, Santana's 10,000th domestic model has rolled off the production line. Later, the Santana 2000, also from Volkswagen of Brazil, was officially launched in the Chinese market, and evolved into models such as the Santana 3000 and Santana Zhijun in the years since.
When it first entered the Chinese market, the monthly wages of ordinary workers were only a few tens of yuan, while Santana's price was as high as 180,000 yuan. In October 2012, SAIC Volkswagen announced that the old Santana (Santana 87) was officially discontinued and released a "Goodbye, Santana" advertisement.
Two months later, the new SAIC Volkswagen Santana based on the Volkswagen PQ25 platform was officially released. But the car has evolved from a mid-size car once based on the Passat B2 to an affordable compact family sedan.
This time, Santana, 38, may really have to say goodbye to her countrymen.
Red Star News reporter Wu Danruo
Responsible editor Ren Zhijiang Editor Yang Cheng
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