I saw such a message on the Internet the other day...
Passat and Magotan, Volkswagen's earliest two-car strategy, occupy the top of the mid-level car sales list all year round. But why did these two twin brothers end up being Specially Supplied Cars in China?
The overseas sedan market is shrinking. In 2020, the Passat sold 14,132 units in the U.S. market and 16,895 units in europe. Note that this is the annual sales volume, which is only comparable to the sales volume of the domestic market for one month.
So who split the Passat's share? Its travel version of the model Wei Lan can be much more moist in Europe, and in North America, although the sales of CC are only about 1,000 units per month, the more fashionable appearance can obviously attract younger consumer groups, and the discontinuation of the Passat is inevitable.
In addition, electric vehicles are also an important factor in the eventual suspension of production in The Passat in Europe and North America.
The European Union has stipulated that the full suspension of the sale of fuel vehicles by 2030, and the early turn to electric vehicles can further reduce research and development costs, not to mention that Volkswagen, which is thriving in the electrification transformation, already has mature products such as the ID. series in the field of electric vehicles.
Volkswagen's successor to passat may be the Aero B, which will be Volkswagen's first sedan built using the MEB platform. Judging from the current outflow of spy care, the design of Aero B and the Volkswagen ID. series are very close, and it is very likely that they will be included in the ID. series in the future.
Although the side still retains the sedan shape, the Aero B has more rounded lines than the straight body of the Passat and Magotan, while the front cabin and tail compartment are shorter, closer to the single van, and the seating space in the car will be larger.
As a model built on the MEB platform, the Aero B comes standard with a rear axle permanent magnet synchronous motor and can be equipped with a front induction asynchronous motor. The ternary lithium battery has a maximum capacity of 83.4 kWh and can provide a cruising range of up to 600km.
Although Aero B is likely to be introduced into domestic production, in the domestic market, passat and Maiten, which implement the dual-car strategy, still have very good sales data, and are still in the top 10 in the mid-level car sales list. So why are Passat and Magotan still popular at home? The first thing to do is to figure out the relationship between Passat and Magotan.
In 2002, when SAIC Volkswagen introduced the first domestic Passat, the model code name was B5, which means that savoy Volkswagen's first generation passat was the European version of the Passat. Prior to this, Santana had already made the Chinese people realize that Volkswagen's skin was durable, so as Santana's orthodox successor model, the Passat can be described as the peak of its debut.
But after that, things went in a stranger direction...
Volkswagen's two joint ventures in China, SAIC Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen, must have corresponding models in each market segment, so Volkswagen took the lead in creating a "one car, two sales" approach in B-class cars at that time. However, there is still a slight difference between the mid-level car products of the North and South Volkswagen.
First of all, SAIC Volkswagen launched the Passat Lingyu on the basis of the B5 Passat, which is a modified model of the B5 Passat, and the overall body structure line is not much different from the B5 Passat, but with the passat's reputation and the high-end exterior interior of "chrome that is luxury", the Passat Lingyu still has a large number of fans.
FAW-Volkswagen introduced the B6 Passat, which was the latest European version of the Passat at that time. But because the Passat has already been used by SAIC Volkswagen, FAW-Volkswagen has adopted the name Magotan.
Since then, from B6 all the way to B8, Magotan will be updated synchronously with the European version of Passat. Passat, which sells in China and North America, continues to use the NMS platform, and subsequent platform updates will be much slower than Thatcent. That's why Magotan has always flaunted itself as authentic. But Passat's update speed is not slow, and it has used Volkswagen's latest platform only two to four years after the Magotan update.
From 2012 to 2015, Passat and Maiten killed the domestic mid-range car market, with the updated platform and TSI+DSG gold powertrain, the annual sales of these two models in China remained around 400,000 units.
But after that, it is difficult for these two models to regain their glory.
For most Chinese people, the car is still a bulk consumer product, and leather durability is still the most basic demand for a car for more consumers.
Since the B5 era, passat has left a reputation for the durability of the Chinese people. But in the era of TSI+DSG golden powertrain, the situation is a little different.
The previous EA888 1.8/2.0TSI engine burned oil, carbon deposits, DSG dry dual-clutch transmission setbacks and other problems plagued many car owners. Although the public quickly repaired and solved the problem in the later period, it did have a certain impact on word of mouth.
Looking at the sales list, it can be found that in addition to the SUV divided a lot of customers, the B-class car Accord and Camry have completed the catch-up, and even the Asian Dragon, which has only been introduced for a long time, the sales also want to break the wrist with Passat and Magotan.
Although it has not been able to replicate the glory of 10 years ago, with a huge market volume, Passat and Magotan are still selling in full swing in the domestic market. But reading this, everyone should be able to understand that Passat and Maiten can still have good sales at present, and the "old book" accumulated over the years is one of them.
And as a rare sales volume of North and South Volkswagen, in the whole year of 2021, Passat and Magotan won 131291 and 133980 vehicles respectively. In the sales of their respective joint venture brands accounted for a very large proportion, so there is no reason to stop production.
Passat has just completed a mid-term overhaul, and Magoten's mid-term overhaul is on the way. I tried the revised Passat before, and although the appearance is still so straight, many details have moved closer to the Volkswagen ID electric car.
Not to mention that now Passat is giving a cash offer of up to $40,000. Take the official guidance price of 203,900 yuan 330TSI Elite Edition, the price of the naked car after the discount is only 170,000 yuan, but it is equipped with keyless entry/start, front seat electric adjustment, seat heating, 8-speaker sound and other advanced configurations.
The same configuration is placed on the Accord or Camry, and you have to go to the top to buy it.
Although Maiten's mid-term reform has not yet arrived, the current preferential margin is also very large. However, I suggest that prospective buyers wait for the mid-term change before selling, after all, all aspects of the product force will be improved, and the offer is expected to keep up soon.
But in any case, Passat and Magotan can still shine in the country, and perhaps they can only buy these two meritorious products in China in the future. Of course, the advantage is that no matter how they change in the future, they will only become more and more suitable for Chinese consumers.