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In the era of trams, another "magic car" is about to fall?
According to reports, the sales of the Santana, which was once popular across the country, was only one in November last year, and the 21 Santana was discontinued as early as March last year.
Many netizens who have witnessed the growth of this "magic car" all the way can't help but sigh: "This time may really be goodbye." ”
The Santana is China's first joint venture car and a label of the times for China's automotive industry.
As one of Volkswagen's most classic models, Santana can definitely be regarded as a legend in the Chinese auto market.
In the 38 years of "hard work" in China's automobile market, it has won the title of domestic automobile sales champion for 22 consecutive years.
It has not only witnessed the rise of domestic products, but also left a deep impression in the hearts of consumers.
However, today's Santana is far from the strength and status of the past, and even ushered in its closing moment.
And this time, it may be difficult for it to return to the field with an "encore" like it did in 2012.
At the end of the 70s of the last century, with the advancement of the reform trend, the country began to pay more and more attention to the development of the country.
However, at that time, China lacked both corresponding technology and mature assembly lines, and basically relied on imports for automobile production.
In 1978, China decided to introduce its own car assembly line.
With the support of the "East Wind of the Times", Shanghai has successfully won the opportunity to develop and establish a modern car manufacturing enterprise.
Soon after, the SAIC project team began to invite major well-known car companies to negotiate, including Toyota, General Motors, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and Citroen.
In the end, the Shanghai delegation chose Volkswagen of Germany, which can provide financial and technical support, as the target of cooperation.
At that time, the Chinese side proposed a partner for cooperationThree requirements
First of all, the cooperation object needs to choose the introduction of advanced models for the Chinese market;
Secondly, it is necessary to provide complete support in terms of production technology and enterprise management;
Finally, the partner also needs to provide technical assistance to parts related enterprises to promote the realization of localization.
Among the many overseas car manufacturers, only the German Volkswagen agreed to these three requirements.
At the end of 1978, the SAIC project team sent a delegation to Germany for inspection.
During their visit to Germany, the members of the delegation soon discovered that many vehicles at that time had the "VW" logo on them.
According to local car dealers, these are all German Volkswagen cars that originated in Wolfsburg.
After that, the delegation went to Wolfsburg for further investigation and negotiated cooperation with Schmidt, the chairman of Volkswagen at that time.
Since then, the automotive cooperation between China and Germany has kicked off, and the exchange and cooperation between the two sides has also given birth to the first Sino-German joint venture in China.
After the partners are finalized, the next step is to consider which model to introduce.
At this time, the representative of the Chinese side put forward two demands:
First, the mid-level sedan must have a high level of technology.
Second, it should have a wide range of applicability, which can be used both for business and as a taxi.
After comprehensive consideration, Volkswagen decided to use the Santana, the first-class sedan that was being developed at the time.
Santana's model was originally derived from the Passat that people were familiar with later, but it was only a second-generation model at that time, and the Passat sold in China is now available.
The sixth and seventh generation models.
And the name of Santana is also said to be the name of a valley in the United States.
Because the valley is plagued by strong cyclones all year round, the locals have given it the name "Santana".
Volkswagen named its new car in the hope that it would quickly take the world by storm like the powerful "santana".
And "Santana" is a transliterated name after it was introduced into China, and it has continued to this day.
Initially, China and Germany agreed to set an annual production threshold of 150,000 units in accordance with the production rules of international manufacturers.
However, when it was ready to go into production in 1980, Volkswagen wanted to cut the project on the grounds that the Chinese car market was sluggish.
As a last resort, the Chinese side decided to reduce the scale of 150,000 units to 20,000 units, and the investment amount could be reduced accordingly, which was the only way to get a compromise from the German side.
But the German side also made another request, that is, to assemble the first batch of Santana in the CKD way, and in order to show good faith, the Chinese side agreed to the request.
In April 1983, after the hard work of many workers, the first Santana car in China was successfully trial-produced.
According to the memories of the workers in the initial assembly workshop, there were only 7 workers in charge at that time, and the workshop equipment was also very simple, with a hand guide rail more than 10 meters long, and there was no manipulator so to use a hoist crane instead, and the screws were not tightened then use a hammer to knock and file.
However, due to lack of experience, it was originally planned to be assembled in 2 days, but in the end, it took a week to complete.
The masters in the workshop couldn't help but joke about this:"At that time, cars were knocked out, but German cars were built. ”
This incident also made the workshop workers realize that only the continuous introduction of advanced manufacturing technology can change the status quo of China's industrial backwardness and narrow the gap between domestic and foreign countries.
The German side, too, was moved by the spirit of the Chinese workers and decided to speed up the process of cooperation.
In October 1984, the cooperation agreement between SAIC and Volkswagen was officially signed at the City Hall, and the initial cooperation period was agreed to be 25 years.
In 1985, Shanghai Volkswagen was founded. Since then, the Shanghai Santana sedan has ushered in its legendary career.
It is reported that after Shanghai Volkswagen successfully launched Santana, its first goal was to promote the localization of Santana parts.
In fact, as early as the beginning of the introduction of Santana, the representative of the Chinese Volkswagen said:
In order to make a truly domestic car of our own as soon as possible, CDK assembly is not the purpose of introduction, we must have our own car manufacturing system.
At that time, due to the lack of infrastructure, the first batch of Santana models off the assembly line were basically assembled from imported parts, and there were basically no domestic parts, so it can be said that it was completely an imported car.
Promoting the localization of parts and components is easy to say, but it is difficult to do, and many workshop masters are worried.
In 1985, Shanghai Volkswagen began mass production of Santana.
However, at that time, Shanghai Volkswagen only realized the localization of four parts, which was still the most basic tires, radios, signs, and antennas, and the low localization rate could be ignored.
The situation did not improve until 1987.
In this year, the state officially launched the Santana localization project, and successively established the "Automobile Horizontal Supporting Leading Group" and "Shanghai Santana Car Localization Community".
At that time, the country set a target of more than 80% of the domestic production rate in 7 years, the time is tight, the task is heavy, if the target cannot be completed within the specified time, the enterprise may close the door at any time.
Fortunately, Shanghai Volkswagen is not alone, with the support of the national leadership department, and the full assistance of many universities, research institutes and hundreds of parts supporting enterprises across the country.
After a difficult struggle, in 1991, Santana's localization rate finally reached 70%, and by 1996, this figure had increased to 90%.
With Santana, you are not afraid to go all over the world" The classic advertising slogan has also spread to thousands of households with the rise of "magic car".
In January 1992, with the launch of 100,000 Poussin models and the launch of the Santana station wagon, the new Santana 2000 was included in the development routine of the two companies.
In 1995, the Santana 2000 officially rolled off the production line and entered the market.
Compared with its predecessor, the Santana 2000 has optimized the space structure and allows passengers to have a better riding experience, which has been widely praised after being put into the market, and is favored by some government officials and business people.
In the following 8 years, Shanghai Volkswagen successively launched a series of improved models such as "Times Superman", "Free Boiling Point", "Junjie", "Times Pride" and "Times Sunshine".
It is worth mentioning that the joint development between China and Germany not only increased the technology accumulation and production experience of Shanghai Volkswagen, laid the foundation for the subsequent market development, but also won the Chinese market for Germany, which is also the so-called "market for technology" cooperation model.
The Santana 2000 lasted nine years, and by January 2004, when it was discontinued, a total of 777211 Santana 2000 units had been sold.
This was followed by the "Santana 3000" independently developed by Shanghai Volkswagen in February 2004, as a local model independently developed by Shanghai Volkswagen, which also marked the official entry of the joint venture car company into the stage of independent development.
In 2007, just over three years later, the Santana 3000 came to an end, and by the end of production, the Santana 3000 had sold a total of 328155 units.
In 2008, Shanghai Volkswagen launched an improved version of the Santana 3000, the Santana Vista, which was more optimized in appearance and size, and its sales exceeded that of its predecessor.
As of 2013, a total of 498433 Santana Vista units have been sold.
2012 was a turning point for Santana.
In October 2012, with the announcement of Shanghai Volkswagen that the Santana 87 was officially discontinued, the old Santana was officially withdrawn from the historical stage of Chinese automobiles.
So far, Santana has sold nearly 4 million vehicles in China, and the "generation of car gods" can be described as a veritable name.
In December of the same year, the all-new generation Santana made its debut in Wolfsburg, Germany, and Shanghai Volkswagen also introduced it to China again.
It's just that in this "return", Santana has also changed from a medium-sized family sedan that takes the mid-to-high-end route to a compact car that focuses on economy.
The impact of the shift in market positioning on Santana has been mixed.
On the one hand, the price was lowered and the model was changed, which made full preparations for Santana to sink to a large base of people. On the other hand, the compact model will also make the car face more strong competitors, such as SAIC Volkswagen's Lavida model.
But relying on the feelings of ** Santana still slowly continued the sales of the old Santana, but unfortunately, this feeling did not last long.
In 2021, Red Star News reported that in SAIC Volkswagen's 2022 and 2023 production plan, five models, including the new Santana, Santana-Haona, Xinrui, Xindong, and Tuyue, are suspected to be discontinued.
The relevant person in charge of SAIC Volkswagen said: "Our current plan is to suspend the production of the Santana model from next year, and the suspension of production does not mean that it will be abandoned, but the need for upgrading." ”
However, it seems that the shutdown was clearly planned for a long time.
According to the "double credit policy", in 2020, Santana's fuel consumption per 100 kilometers will be 56L, while SAIC Volkswagen's fuel consumption standard value is 518L, which means that each Santana produced needs to consume another 042 points to offset the penalty for failing to meet the target.
The ** of double points is about 6,000 yuan, and the price of the Santana 2021 model at that time was 869-11.190,000 yuan, according to SAIC 1148% gross margin on sales, 5With a net profit margin of 3%, the net profit for each Santana sold is 0460,000-0590,000 yuan.
Therefore, it is also concluded that the continued production of Santana may even sell one at a loss.
In stark contrast to Santana's continuous "diving", SAIC's overall sales of new energy vehicles are rising.
In December 2023, SAIC Motor's new energy passenger vehicle sales were 410,000 units, up 25% year-on-year; SAIC-GM-Wuling's new energy vehicle sales were 1240,000 units, up 39% y/y. For the whole of 2023, SAIC Motor will sell 112 new energy vehicles30,000 units, ranking second among Chinese automakers in terms of sales.
In the era of fuel vehicles, Santana has sprung up, but now in the era of new energy, its vitality has been seriously declining.
In fact, for Volkswagen, Santana's viability in overseas markets is also very limited.
In the United States, Santana ceased sales in 1988; In Japan, Santana only lasted until 1990. In the European market, Santana has been ordinary since its birth, and now it is even more difficult to find a trace.
The future is the era of electric cars, and major car brands are also in the process of fully moving towards electrification, if they cannot keep up with the trend of the times, it is obviously inevitable to withdraw from the stage of history.
Santana is not the first, nor will he be the last.
With the change of the market and the change of technology, it will be difficult for a "phenomenal" car like Santana to reappear.
Just like the development of the mobile phone field, after a period of rapid evolution, it is now a game competition for giant brands such as Xiaomi, Huawei, and Apple.
—end—
Reference: Upstream News: The 40-year history of the rise and fall of "Shenche" Santana: from the sales crown to the suspension of production, the national monthly sales fell to 1 unit.
Tencent News: 1 unit sold per month! A generation of god car Santana, who was forced off the altar?
Interface News: Goodbye, Santana.
Author: Xi Xiaolin.
Editor: Willow Leaf chatter.