In the small car market, in terms of popularity, the fame of Volkswagen Polo should not be lost to any opponent, including Fit, Zhixuan and so on. Due to its early entry into China, Volkswagen Polo has always been loved by young consumers with its small, flexible and stylish characteristics.
Volkswagen Polo once sold more than 10,000 vehicles per year round, and at its peak, it also created the result of selling more than 20,000 vehicles in a single month, which is an undoubted benchmark product in the A0-class car market.
But in recent years, Volkswagen Polo has begun to be a little weak, and the market performance has gradually declined. According to the data of 300 used cars, Polo now only sells two or three thousand units per month, and only 2351 cars are sold in January. What exactly is the problem?
The turning point in the decline in Polo sales came in the mid-2019 redesign, in which the Polo Plus was lengthened, changing the body size from the original 3970/1682/1462 mm to 4053/1740/1449 mm, and the wheelbase was extended from 2470 mm to 2564 mm.
Although the space is larger, the price of Polo Plus has also been raised to 99,900 yuan, which is 22,000 yuan more expensive than the 77,900 yuan before the remodel, and the entry-level model is still a manual transmission, and if you want to buy an automatic gear, you have to add 10,000 yuan, and the price is 109,900 yuan.
In addition, the revamped Polo is all 1.5L powered, mated to a 5-speed manual or 6-speed automatic transmission, and can only deliver up to 113 hp and 145 Nm peak torque.
The previous model is divided into 1.4L, 1.6L and 1.4T three powertrains, providing consumers with a variety of choices, whether it is a grocery party or a car party can choose what they need.
Polo also has no advantage in configuration, the whole series is halogen headlights and manual air conditioning; LCD touch screens and car networking systems are only available on high-end models. Parking radar, automatic parking, electronic handbrake, electric trunk, keyless start, LCD instruments, etc. are all missing.
In terms of price, the starting price of the current Polo has been lowered to 89,900, the starting price of the automatic gear is 99,900, and the terminal has a discount of 15,000, but compared with the starting price of the Fit automatic at 81,800, there is still no advantage.
In the past, the main purchase force of Volkswagen Polo was to go for its small flexibility and high cost performance. But today's Polo doesn't have much of an advantage in terms of price/performance.
In the price range of about 100,000 yuan, there are many models to choose from, the sedan has Nissan Xuanyi, Volkswagen Langyi, Hyundai Elantra and other models, SUVs have Haval H6, Changan CS55, Wuling Xingchen and other models, these models have more advantages than Polo in space, configuration and power.
In the small car market, Japanese cars such as Fit and Zhixuan dominate the market, and new energy models such as BYD Dolphin have come to the fore.
With the advent of mini-cars such as the Wuling Hongguang MINI EV, these lower-cost, more flexible models have also seized some of the market share that originally belonged to small cars, and it is even more difficult for Polo to return to the peak.