Volkswagen Santana, as a classic car with a history of more than 20 years, carries the memories of countless Chinese people. However, in recent days, an environmental impact assessment of SAIC Volkswagen Yizheng Branch has been circulated on the Internet, which shows that it will complete the technical transformation project of the model in 2022-2023. Among them, the total production capacity after the technical transformation is 448,800 vehicles / year, but the production capacity of the new Santana, Haona, Xinrui and Xindong models has been changed to zero, and the production will be changed to the mid-term modification of Tuyue, Lingdu, Polo and Tujiao. In other words, Santana is facing a production suspension?
Although the above mentioned is not the news announced by Volkswagen himself, it is difficult to distinguish whether the rumor is true or false for a while, but from the current situation of the volkswagen brand of the model itself, Santana's suspension of production is estimated to be sooner or later, the following are several reasons given by the brother to see why Santana is facing the possibility of production suspension.
First, the audience is decreasing
With the increasingly young car buying group, many consumers are more willing to choose a young and fashionable model, especially for some sports personality models, which are more popular with young consumers. And similar to the classic car like Santana, from the product point of view, Santana's own competitiveness has long been unable to keep up with the times, the old design, the configuration of the beggar, it is not too much to say that it is 10 years ago. Therefore, Santana is not particularly cold for young consumers, and its sales are basically supported by middle-aged consumers or home users.
In addition, the same is the price of about 100,000, the configuration of independent brand cars is more abundant, and the cost performance is higher. In particular, geely Emgrand, Changan Yidong and other models that have made significant progress in recent years have certain competitive advantages in terms of appearance, configuration, and even power performance. Today, Santana's comprehensive strength has been inferior to the same price of independent brands, not to mention the same level of joint venture products, its audience has gradually been reduced from the majority of consumers to the public fans, rental industry and driving test industry users.
Second, sales are erratic
But it has to be said that although the Sannata is not as competitive as before, it has always been a Volkswagen, the leather is always synonymous with its constant durability, and it is a joint venture car. In the current car market, there will still be many consumers who regard joint venture cars as the primary option for car purchases, so Santana's current average monthly sales can basically reach thousands or even tens of thousands, which is quite ideal.
However, compared with the previous few years, there was a monthly sales of 20,000 or 30,000 at will, and now Santana's performance is difficult to compare with before, and there is a lot of gap compared with the past. Judging from the fluctuating sales volume, it can also indicate Santana's future development.
3. Impact of the double credit policy
In addition, there is a more likely reason is that it is affected by the double credit policy. In fact, from the list of discontinued products, it can be seen that the discontinued models are all economic cars with a low profit price of less than 120,000 yuan. Volkswagen has said that when the points situation is not optimistic, it will gradually eliminate cheap models, and The Santa is likely to be one of them.
From the point of view of points, the current Santana series is equipped with a 1.5L naturally aspirated engine, matched with a manual or automatic transmission, with an average fuel consumption of 5.64L per 100 km, while the average fuel consumption of SAIC Volkswagen is 5.18 L/100 km. In other words, for every Santana sold, it must be taken out or deducted from the negative points of the fuel vehicle by purchasing points.
Nowadays, the domestic double point market has risen to 6,000 yuan / point, and in 2020, from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the points of various car companies, it is known that the total points of SAIC Volkswagen are -92930, and it will cost a lot of money to buy points alone. Considering that the profit margin of the current SAIC Volkswagen model is not high, the lower price of Santana is basically a loss for SAIC Volkswagen.
Even if the ID. series is introduced into domestic production, the performance in China has not improved much. Just like the Volkswagen ID.4, its popularity overseas is comparable to that of the Model 3, but after being listed in China, it has an average of only two or three thousand or even hundreds of sales per month, which is far from offsetting Volkswagen's current negative points. Therefore, the above four low-profit models with zero production after the technical transformation are all priced at less than 120,000 yuan, and there is a high possibility that they will face suspension.
Write in the last words:
In the context of chip shortage, it can best reflect the comprehensive strength of car companies and products. If the news of this suspension of production is true, in the long run, it will be conducive to improving overall profit margins and better focusing on future electrification roads. The times need to progress, and Santana, who once fought invincible hands all over the world, eventually lost to the times.