The pros and cons of the Volkswagen spectrum

Now, almost all Volkswagen models can form a hot situation, but there are many industry insiders are worried that in the "modular" strategy, users will increasingly be puzzled in the purchase value.

Module product

The all-new generation of Santana, which has attracted much attention, has finally officially listed in China.

At the listing site, Shanghai Volkswagen has applied a large number of emotionally pleasing promotional calibers to the Santana model brand that has gone through 29 years in China. From the price point of view, the entry price of 84,900 yuan has also been announced. Santana once again strongly entered the Chinese A-Class market. At the same time, Shanghai Volkswagen decided that the old “Poussin”, which had been sold in China for 29 years, was officially retired.

So far, a number of models that Volkswagen has created in the domestic auto market with a "modular" strategy have a good market performance. However, in the face of more and more astute consumers and a market with diversified demand, whether the public's “modular” strategy can be laughed to the end is still full of challenges.

According to the statistics released by the China Association of Autonomous Vehicles, the sales of Shanghai Volkswagen Langyi amounted to 23,900 units in November 2012, and the accumulated sales volume was 223,400 units in January-November 2012; the sales volume of FAW-VW Bora in November was 19,900 units. From January to November, the sales volume was 178,800; while the old Santana sold 11,700 units in November, and the sales from January to November remained as high as 178,800.

“We will focus on developing a new technology and promoting it to use on different brands and models while conducting rigorous testing,” said Hackenberger. At the same time, relying on the “modular” strategy to cut costs also makes Santana Such models are based on the protection of technology and quality, compared with their competitors have a price advantage. This is why Jetta, Santana, Bora, Laguna, Passat, and Magotan are all hot models in China.

According to Wendrun, the CEO of Volkswagen Group, this is the result of the "modular" strategy of the public in recent years. Wendun believes that in the global market, Volkswagen has an unparalleled competitive advantage - the ability to maintain brand identity while achieving economies of scale. The key is to be able to use the same components to create different models. VW calls it "platform sharing," which is the "modularization" strategy.

Now, Volkswagen’s “modularization” strategy is even more ambitious: Volkswagen has proposed a modular platform for the development of more than 40 models of small and medium-sized cars, referred to as MQB (modularer Querbaukasten after the MQB platform integration, future Volkswagen’s car platform The current PQ2, PQ3, and PQ4 will be integrated into a unified MQB platform, and A0-class, A-class, B-class, and even A00-class vehicles will be born on the platform. It is understood that parts located in the critical area between the front axle and the pedals account for 60% of the total vehicle cost. By standardizing these parts, VW has more universal parts. After the MQB integration is completed, it can provide support for 7 million VW brand cars, bringing unparalleled scale and cost advantages. VW expects that the "modular" strategy will reduce the company's research and development expenses by 20%, parts costs by 20%, and the production cycle by 30%.

In addition to the natural cost advantage based on the "modular" strategy of the masses, the biggest highlight of the new Santana is its family style that almost completely caters to the public. It is a new generation in the masses of the Chinese market. This will also make it easier for consumers in the new Santana new target cities to accept this change, and continue to occupy the third and fourth tier markets while winning back to the first-tier market. "Success must be continuation. In order to continue, we must inject new vitality. From the perspective of Shanghai Volkswagen, we very much hope to continue the glorious performance of the Santana brand in the domestic auto market and hope that the new Santana will inject a new brand for the Santana brand. Vitality.” said Zhang Hailiang, general manager of Shanghai Volkswagen.

According to the reporter’s understanding, as early as the beginning of this year, Shanghai Volkswagen has formulated a “nostalgic marketing plan” and looks forward to using the old Santana’s special feelings in Chinese memory to drive the new Santana’s popularity. As a Chinese classic memory for the first generation of cars, Santana has created more than 4 million sales in the Chinese market. Nowadays, the new Santana has taken over the baton from Santana, who has been selling for 29 years.

Poussin's Return to Volkswagen's "Modularization" Strategy

Prior to the official listing in China, Shanghai Volkswagen held the new Santana ceremony at the headquarters of Volkswagen in Wolfsburg on October 29 this year. "Twenty-nine years ago, Santana was introduced to China from Wolfsburg." At the listing site, Jia Mingyu, deputy general manager of sales and marketing of Shanghai Volkswagen, and general manager of Shanghai Volkswagen sales company, said.

According to its introduction, although the brand new Santana has followed the same brand name as the old model, and even the slogan “Having Santana, is not afraid to go everywhere” has not changed, but unlike before, the new Santana comes from the Polo. The same level of public PQ25 improvement platform, while the old Santana comes from the public's PQ42 platform. Based on the changes in the platform, the new Santana's model wheelbase was also reduced from the old Santana's 2656mm to 2603mm, the body is also smaller, and the power is equipped with Volkswagen's latest 1.4L and 1.6L naturally aspirated engines.

According to Dr. Ulrich Harkenberg, director of the Volkswagen Group and responsible for R&D, the nature of the new and old models is no different. “The reason for Santana’s previous success was to meet market demand. The new model will still provide high value for market demand, and the price is acceptable to people,” said Hackenberger. Hazmann, the president of VW (China), directly defines Santana as “a name that is stable, practical, and valuable”.

The historical mission of the new Santana is to better inherit the old consumer segments of Poussin and VISTA. The original Poussin and VISTA covers a wide range of areas. We also hope that the new Santana can take into account the markets they cover. The main competitors include Excelle, Elantra and other A-level entry-level products. "James Ming said.

In accordance with Shanghai Volkswagen's market positioning for the new Santana "Mainstream A-Class" market, its main target markets are first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. However, it will continue the previous civilian route. Shanghai Volkswagen has given the new Santana sales target of “over 15,000 vehicles a month” and has already prepared sufficient capacity for this purpose.

In fact, as early as 2007, Volkswagen had handed over Shanghai Volkswagen the follow-up models of the Shanghai Volkswagen mid-level sedan and the right to develop new exterior models and interiors for the North American market. Shanghai Volkswagen took full advantage of the domestic cheap labor costs, and relied on the joint venture company's R & D system to carry out secondary research and development of Volkswagen's original products, and then produced a number of best-selling models such as the Passat collar and Long Yi.

"Based on Volkswagen's 'modularity' strategy, Shanghai Volkswagen will give full play to the localization strategy. The advantage is that the localization improvements to the new models will enable these models to be closer to the domestic market." Jia Xinguang, a well-known analyst in the automotive industry believes that a new generation Santana is also a product developed simultaneously by Shanghai Volkswagen and German Volkswagen. They are trying to continue this localization advantage.

Of course, Volkswagen's "modularization" strategy has brought innate cost advantages to new models such as Santana. There are also many industry insiders who worry that too homogenous design will inevitably make most of the mass models of the masses lack of character. With regard to more and more demanding markets and more and more astute consumers, what is the relevant model for which the masses have insisted on the "modularization" strategy, and how long can they still sell in the domestic market?

Among Volkswagen’s existing product lineage, the new Jetta and the Skoda RAPID are similar in size to the new Santana and originate from the same platform (the Volkswagen PQ25 platform), and the latter two cars have also finalized the domestic plan. During this time, industry analysts generally believe that the situation of “brothers fighting each other” between the new Jetta and the new Santana, which covers 1.4L and 1.6L displacements at the same wheelbase, is inevitable. At the same time, the market space for Skoda RAPID is also at the same time. It is bound to be squeezed. In addition, in comparison with the mass-middle and advanced models also based on the “modularization” strategy, since A-class and mid-to-high-class vehicles have a large number of components for common use and appearance design styles are basically the same, those who purchase mid-to-high-end vehicles will be The purchase value is increasingly puzzling.

"We will make a difference between the new Santana, the new Jetta and RAPID, including the distinction between appearance and interior to meet different consumer needs." Jia Mingxi said.

In this regard, Jia Xinguang believes that every car actually has its own personality, just as they all have different market positions. The design of the car should also have different styles based on its own positioning. It is too similar in appearance design and it is not easy for the models to establish their own brand effects.

For Shanghai Volkswagen, Santana, who used to be in the Chinese market for 29 years, will bring a sales volume of more than 4 million units to the curtain. Whether the new Santana can continue to write brilliance, or how long the hot selling situation can last, is its The biggest test in the future is also the biggest test for the "modular" strategy of the public.