"Owner: Why are the reduced models sold at the original price?"
Mr. He complained on the consumer insurance platform that the Volkswagen Langyi car purchased in March this year did not match the owner's manual, and the configuration of the car machine was reduced. After that, Mr. He contacted the 4S shop, but the other party refused his request to replace the car on the grounds that Mr. He had signed the car purchase contract.
Mr. He told the special search reporter that he purchased the Volkswagen Langyi 280TSI DSG Comfort Edition sedan at the Huatong Huasheng 4S store in Mengguan Huatong, Guiyang on March 8, 2022, and spent a total of 137,000 yuan. Mr. He said that the process of buying a car on the same day was very cumbersome, plus he also handled a mortgage, so he signed many documents without careful checking. After picking up the car and returning home, when Mr. He searched for the model on the Internet, he accidentally found that many car owners reported that the car's machine was reduced. According to the graphical information provided by the online car owners, Mr. He also inspected his vehicle and found that there was also such a situation.
Mr. He said that according to the user manual of the car, the model obviously has a USB interface in the lower right corner of the car. The USB interface can realize: charging, audio, pictures and mobile phone interconnection mapping CarPlay and other functions. However, the real car pictures provided by Mr. He show that there is no USB interface in the lower right corner of his car machine, and it cannot support the above-mentioned mobile phone interconnection mapping CarPlay and other functions. Recalling the time when he picked up the car, Mr. He said that he did not know too much about cars, and only looked at the appearance of the vehicle. The car sales staff accompanying him at that time did not mention the problem of reducing the allocation of the car machine.
In order to make an explanation, Mr. He contacted the 4S store again, but the sales staff of the 4S store refused Mr. He's request to replace the original car machine on the grounds that Mr. He had signed the relevant car purchase contract. On the question reflected by Mr. He, the special search reporter contacted the official customer service of SAIC Volkswagen, who said that the information would be provided to the relevant staff to deal with next, and as for why the allocation would be reduced, the customer service did not give comments.
The special search reporter found through the network search that the problem of the reduction of the Volkswagen Langyi car machine is not uncommon. On January 2, 2022, the Central Broadcasting Network reported that a number of Volkswagen Langyi car owners complained that the car machine had problems such as "cannot use CarPlay and lack of USB interface". In this regard, some insiders have analyzed that Volkswagen chose to reduce the allocation of ace models, and "lack of core" is a fact, but more importantly, it is to reduce costs. It is understood that if the car machine wants to support CarPlay, it must pass Apple's MFi certification and purchase an MFi chip that uses Apple, so the cost of supporting CarPlay itself is higher.
At present, because SAIC Volkswagen has not replied, the 4S store refuses to replace the original car on the grounds that the consumer has signed a car purchase contract. So in such a situation, how can consumers seek legal aid? The special search reporter also consulted lawyer Wang Yan of Beijing Jilai (Shenzhen) Law Firm.
Lawyer Wang Yan believes that when performing the sales contract, the seller should deliver to the buyer the subject matter that is consistent with the sales contract. If the subject matter delivered by the seller is inconsistent with the contract, the buyer is entitled to require the seller to deliver the subject matter that conforms to the agreement. In the sale and purchase of motor vehicles, in the case that the contract clearly records the requirements such as model, configuration, price, etc., the buyer, as an individual with full capacity for civil conduct, can fully understand the legal consequences of signing and stamping in the contract. Therefore, it is recommended that consumers exercise a duty of due diligence on transactions involving their own significant interests in order to protect their own rights and interests.
It is understood that Langyi is the ace model of SAIC Volkswagen and the sales king of the model. According to the statistics of the Association, from January to November 2021, Langyi sold a total of 355,000 vehicles, accounting for more than 1/3 of SAIC Volkswagen's total sales.
(Note: The deadline for this article is April 12, 2022, due to the appropriate delay in the review process)