In today's era of new energy arms race, unless you want to buy it, probably many people have forgotten about the Santana, which is still on sale. So I thought that only when it was officially discontinued, would everyone hear its name again.
Unexpectedly, at the beginning of 2024, Santana returned to everyone's attention in another way, that is, in December 2023, Santana sold a total of 1 cars. You heard it right, it's 1.
According to the sales data of the Santana terminal, in the first four months of 2023, the sales volume of Santana is still steadily controlled at around 6,000. But starting in May, Santana's sales fell off a cliff, and in July they fell sharply to triple digits. From August to October, there were only more than 100 units per month. The data for December has become a dramatic one. How beautiful this car was back then, how miserable it is now.
You know, Santana is a household name in China, and it is also the most brilliant representative model of Volkswagen that year. At the end of the 70s, the domestic automobile market began to sprout, Volkswagen saw this opportunity, after 6 years of negotiations, officially introduced this legendary classic model in China, and opened the prelude to local production. This also marks the establishment of SAIC Volkswagen, China's first car joint venture, and Santana naturally became the first joint venture car in the history of Chinese automobiles.
In 1983, the first 100 Santanas were introduced to China in the form of CKD. But after a period of hard work, Santana gradually started to localize parts. By 1996, the proportion of localized parts had increased to 90%. This move also directly promoted the development of the domestic industrial chain. It can be said that the Santana joint venture is a pioneer and pioneer in the Chinese passenger car market.
With excellent product strength and excellent quality, Santana sedan began to be popular all over the country, "with Santana, go all over the world is not afraid", this classic advertising slogan is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the time and place are favorable, Santana became an instant hit in the country, becoming a classic memory of a generation.
After entering 2000, Santana gradually became tired in the market competition, so in 2012, the classic model that spanned a century, announced the discontinuation of production, and the cumulative sales in the domestic market exceeded 4 million units throughout its life cycle.
However, SAIC Volkswagen naturally will not let go of this golden sign, so at the end of 2012, the new Santana came into being. However, this Santana is not the other Santana, not only the model positioning, platform, and target group are completely different, but it is not even a continuation of the old Santana. However, Santana's reputation is outstanding, and although it is a "Santana" that has been resurrected from the corpse, its market performance is still echoing, with annual sales exceeding 100,000 units.
Okay, so the question is, what caused the new Santana to evaporate like the world overnight?
From another data, it is not difficult to see that the new Santana has reached the end of its life cycle. First of all, at the end of 2021, it is suspected that the 2022 and 2023 model technical transformation project plans of SAIC Volkswagen's Yizheng plant will be online**, and 4 models, including the new Santana, will be discontinued after the technical rectification of the plant. In the future, it will switch to the production of Tuyue, Lingdu, Polo, Tukai and other models.
On the other hand, it is not difficult to see from the data that since April last year, the wholesale of the new Santana has basically remained in the single digits, that is, dealers are suspected to be digesting inventory. This is further confirmation that although the matter has not been officially announced, the new Santana may have been discontinued.
In fact, at the moment of fierce competition in new energy vehicles, Santana, a classic model, may have completed the last part of its life. The platform is old, the configuration is low, and the design of the exterior and interior has long been out of step with the times, so SAIC Volkswagen may have been preparing for the gradual death of the new Santana.
While we sigh, we can also look forward to whether SAIC Volkswagen will borrow the corpse again in the future, maybe the name can be called IDSantana?