Santana was introduced into China, the German side suggested a price of 80,000, why did it finally sell for 200,000?
"If you have Santana, you won't be afraid to travel all over the world", this familiar slogan is almost a household name. Twenty-nine years of ups and downs, three generations of full memories, nearly 2.9 million cumulative sales, Santana this car has a very shining history, it can even be said that the Chinese people's belief in the Volkswagen brand, most of it comes from this car.
At the end of 1978, the state began to try Sino-foreign joint venture production of cars, and finally selected the only German company Volkswagen that was willing to provide the latest technology and was willing to invest money. In 1983, Santana entered China and began her illustrious life.
When Santana was first listed, it was ready to price 80,000 yuan, which was already a not low price at that time, but in the end, the earliest batch of Santana was sold for more than 200,000 yuan, and even a car was difficult to find, ordinary people could not afford it, even if they could afford it.
As for why the pricing is so much higher than originally planned? It is rumored that because the management of SAIC Motor suggested that German Volkswagen raise the price, it felt that Santana was almost alone in the domestic car market at that time, so many people said that the people of the pit country were often their own people.
In fact, the real reason is that the domestic automobile industry at that time was too poor, the supporting parts could not catch up at all, had to use parts transported from Germany, coupled with all manual installation, resulting in difficult cost control, the cost was too high, and the final price was 200,000.
In 1984, the exchange rate ratio of the US dollar and the renminbi was 1 to 2.3, in 1985, the price of the Passat Variant GL with a power of 75 hp in Germany was almost 23,000 marks, and the ratio of the mark to the US dollar at that time was about 2.8 to 1, if the exchange rate is calculated, Santana sold 3-40,000 yuan in China at that time is more reasonable, if taxes are included, the price of 80,000 yuan is not too outrageous, and in terms of purchasing power, Santana at that time can be said to be sky-high.
Around 1980, the price of rice in domestic stores was almost 1 Mao8 per catty, and the monthly wage of workers was about 40 yuan, and at that time, a Santana was equivalent to 5,000 months' wages of ordinary workers.
The so-called Poussin, just the name of the Chinese people, the Santana at that time was actually derived from the Passat B2 model, which was also very popular in Germany that year, with sales of 130,000 in the first year, but in the subsequent development process, Santana gradually became a cheap model.
The earliest domestically produced sedan Santana was 4546/1690/1427mm in length, width and height and a wheelbase of 2548mm, and was equipped with a 1.6-liter inline 4-cylinder 8-valve carburetor gasoline engine with a maximum power of 64kW and a maximum torque of 128Nm, mated to a 4-speed manual transmission. At the beginning, Santana's own product strength was not weak, solid chassis, excellent workmanship materials and spacious space, coupled with the domestic automobile market at that time, there were no decent products at all, Santana stood out and became a god car in the minds of generations of Chinese people.
And the reason why Volkswagen has so many fans in China, Santana this car is indispensable, as the first model of the Volkswagen brand into China, Santana has made many Chinese people have the first impression of German quality, solid, stable, safe, advanced, have become synonymous with Volkswagen, for people now, Poussin and Sang Travel is more of a complex, a good memory of the era at the end of the last century.