No brand like Volkswagen, the two generations of views on it so seriously polarized, such as Toyota, no matter which generation of the general view is fuel saving stability, such as Ford, the general view is to control the fuel consumption is high, but Volkswagen is different, the older general impression of Volkswagen is safety, leather, high-end, Ashkenazi quality, many people in the younger generation will Volkswagen and reduce allocation, unsafe draw an equal sign. Why is there such a deviation?
Some people think that this is a good mass marketing, so that the older generation of people preconceived, young people are now unwilling to listen to biased, more willing to find their own answers, so the public's reputation plummeted. But is it possible that the views of both generations are true, but based on their performance of volkswagen models at that time? If we look for it with such a view, then we are close to the truth.
The history of Volkswagen's development in China is a naked history of de-allocation, it is undeniable that the earliest Volkswagen models are worthy of the title of German quality, but today's Volkswagen, in addition to the cavity wax laser welding two traditional crafts have not been lost, the appearance and interior of the sense of high-grade creation is very outstanding, the so-called gold power combination is indeed very fuel-efficient, basically nothing left. In fact, we can divide Volkswagen's development in China into two stages:
Joint venture honeymoon phase: German dominated 1985-2005
The first real joint venture automobile company in China was the "Shanghai Volkswagen" joint venture established by SAIC and Volkswagen Group in 1985, which is a real half-share equity joint venture.
At that time, the Shanghai Automobile Factory was used as a joint venture pilot enterprise, hoping to introduce advanced foreign car-making technology, why did it choose Volkswagen at that time? The reasons are complex.
On the one hand, it is the reason for national feelings, although the 90s was the golden age of Japanese cars, but because of historical reasons, no car company dared to open this mouth first.
On the other hand, Volkswagen at that time, under the siege of American and Japanese cars, basically could only hold the market of the European base camp, and it was urgent to develop new markets.
As a result, the two sides hit it off, and a generation of god car Santana appeared. Originally used as a bus, the Volkswagen Santana sold for a staggering $180,000 on the market. However, at that time, Volkswagen Santana did achieve The German standards, and it is said that at that time, a screw was changed, which required the approval of Volkswagen's German headquarters, and the quality control was very strict. Coupled with the fact that Volkswagen at that time had no opponent who could fight, the domestic cars at that time were shoddy, to say that the industrial garbage was not excessive, Beijing JEEP was everywhere strange, the failure rate was extremely high, the Xiali three-cylinder was still a low-end car, in this way, the German car became synonymous with solid, high-level, comfortable and luxurious, affecting the 1-2 generations of Chinese people.
Look at the 2004 Volkswagen Bora, 6 disc CDs and Siemens GAMMA cassettes, 9 original car audio, the main driver is also equipped with electric adjustments and has three sets of memory adjustments, the door uses a three-stage hinge, such a configuration was very advanced at the time. At that time, Volkswagen was favored by the Chinese of that generation, which was very normal. Since the 1990s, around 2010, "German cars", "Japanese electrical appliances" and "American technology" have become synonymous with quality and high-end in the eyes of the Chinese people, but around 2005, everything has changed.
The Stage of Barbaric Growth: The Expansion of China's Discourse Power since 2005
After taking root in the Chinese market for 20 years, Volkswagen has gradually figured out the wealth code, the most profitable business in the world, not small profits, but as far as possible to use information asymmetry, such money is the best to earn. At that time, what energy absorption design did the Chinese people understand? What do you know about bias collisions? They don't know that there is an N-CAP on the other side of the ocean, or that there is an IIHS in the North American market. In their cognition, the thickness of the car skin equals safety, the collision beam equals safety, the sound of closing the door is thick and heavy equals safety, and Volkswagen equals safety.
German Volkswagen found that high-priced, high-quality, original Volkswagen cars do not sell well, and in the Chinese market, prices are the first competitiveness. They found that no matter what kind of car they made, as long as they hung up the Volkswagen logo, the car could be sold. They also found that the most understanding of the Chinese people must be Chinese themselves, so Volkswagen's special models appeared, and Volkswagen's road to decommissioning began.
1, Volkswagen's low-end models, began to use foam to replace the rear anti-collision beam, after all, in the domestic rear anti-collision beam did not do mandatory requirements, in addition, Volkswagen began to use ESP to attack the opponent, and when it was standing, it was a good move.
2, Volkswagen began to play concept packaging, German quality, laser welding, cavity wax injection, in addition to guiding 4S store employees to the door station people, sledgehammer bumper juggling performance, to maximize the creation of Volkswagen safety label, and smear opponents on the Internet, and the Diaoyu Island incident for Volkswagen to send a shareholder wind, Volkswagen lying win easily to climb the domestic sales champion.
3, north and south Volkswagen began to frantically launch special cars, SAIC Volkswagen's Langyi, FAW-Volkswagen's Bora (the old version of the Jetta, the new version of the Jetta is Sagittar), a mid-level car of the Passat, the European version of the Passat gave FAW the name Oftem, the American regulation Passat gave SAIC still called Passat, and the Passat later became a special car. Santana Jetta's two classic models have also become domestic special cars.
4, in the domestic market began to forcibly promote the DSG gearbox, the domestic market as a test field, in North America and Taiwan are recalled, but in the mainland, but the defects of DSG are written into the manual. The 315 gala is only the launch of ECU, which is very different from the practice of the North American market.
5, Volkswagen's turbo engine burns oil seriously, but Volkswagen will be turbocharged plus double clutch combination named "golden combination", the momentum of the technology is far ahead, the natural suction power is weak, there is no driving pleasure, is a backward technology. Coupled with the keyboard car gods to promote the waves, car owners hold such advanced technology, always have to pay a price of psychology, pinch their noses and endure. So volkswagen burned engine oil and DSG problems for so many years, still did not affect the public's sales, which shows the strength of faith.
6, Volkswagen began to reduce the rear suspension in the domestic market, some models replaced by torsion beams, at that time the Chinese people who knew what driving texture, as long as it was Volkswagen's chassis are said to be thick and advanced, the result of the broken shaft incident for several years, patched things.
7, safety also began to reduce the allocation, anyway, many People only believe that the thickness of the iron is safe, that the thickness of the iron is not the end of the matter, anyway, the thickness is also 1 mm of things, not much cost, but the strength of the skeleton to reduce, after all, the cost of ultra-high strength thermoformed steel is much higher. As long as it is not exposed, Volkswagen is still the safest model in the hearts of the Chinese people, crash test? Just with the five-star wholesale department, give it another 100 years without play. It was not until the appearance of the ZhongbaoYan that the emperor's new clothes were completely punctured.
Volkswagen's nearly 40 years of development in China is actually a naked history of delisting, from adhering to the Quality of The German system, to being affected by the domestic market, there is no fear, can not be said to be the credit of the Chinese side, because after all, in terms of products and technology, it is still the German Volkswagen that has the final say, but at least the Chinese side has played a role in fueling the waves.
Any car company into China, more or less will have a certain degree of reduction, this is because the domestic laws and policies are not perfect, but also because the Chinese people's understanding of the car is too primitive and too primary, however, this is not in terms of safety reduction, foreign double standard treatment reasons, Volkswagen is not without advantages, but in these decades, Volkswagen has been overly deified, resulting in the real Volkswagen was exposed, let Volkswagen suffer from anti-phagocytosis, volkswagen god car dream woke up, but still living in the dream of many Chinese, People who still regard the car brand as their faith have not yet woken up, and only by learning to look at each car brand rationally and objectively, this situation of being fooled and deceived can be minimized.