AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)02/15 Report--

After the domestic Passat's poor performance in the PICC Research C-IASI continued to ferment, Volkswagen's inherent image of safety and heavy weight instantly collapsed in front of consumers, while Passat instantly became the target of collective attack by netizens from a miraculous car, and SAIC Volkswagen was also criticized as a brand and producer. A month after the incident, official figures show that SAIC-Volkswagen sales have plummeted by more than 40 per cent.

SAIC released its latest production and sales report on February 15, in which SAIC-Volkswagen produced 143700 vehicles in January, down 11.3% from a year earlier, and sales in January were 113000, down 40.5% from a year earlier, with a 52% drop from the previous month. The first-month decline of SAIC-Volkswagen exceeded SAIC's overall decline of 35% in the first month, and its market performance, as the main sales force and profit cow, has undoubtedly dragged its feet.

Due to the extended Spring Festival holiday and the continuing impact of the pneumonia epidemic, sales of domestic passenger cars fell 20.4 per cent in January from a year earlier, with sales by most car companies falling, while SAIC-Volkswagen's decline of more than 40 per cent was well above the industry average.

In contrast, FAW-Volkswagen, which is on a par with SAIC-Volkswagen, sold 187000 vehicles in January, down 2% from a year earlier, while the other three automakers in the top five also fell below SAIC-Volkswagen. Of these, SAIC GM sold 125500 vehicles in January, down 30.5% from a year earlier; Geely sold 111800 vehicles in January, down 29% from a year earlier; and Dongfeng Nissan sold 101300 vehicles, down 11% from a year earlier.

Many netizens speculated that the reason why SAIC-Volkswagen had such a big decline had a lot to do with the announcement of Passat's research results in December. The result of its positive 25% bias collision was terrible, and there were obvious deficiencies in the safety structure. SAIC's brand operation for many years has been "discredited" in an instant.

In December, Passat ranked sixth among all cars with sales of 27000, while also winning first place in medium-sized sedans, surpassing Accord and Maiteng with 17000, according to the Federation of passengers. In January this year, Passat fell out of the top 15, and sales fell sharply, while Accord and Camry of the same level achieved 22000 and 17000 respectively.

Passat fell off the altar only a month later, which indirectly shows that the result of the collision has a great impact on its sales and promotion, as well as damage to SAIC-Volkswagen sales and image. At the same time, it also shows that consumers pay more and more attention to vehicle safety, and as one of the criteria for buying new cars.

According to the C-IASI test results of the China Insurance Research Institute, the 2019 Passat scored the lowest P in the most important positive 25% bias crash rating, and ranked lowest in all 45 models of the C-IASI so far, with a score of 44 (the higher the worse), far surpassing the 24 points of the bottom SAIC Volkswagen Tuguan L.

From the perspective of the collision process, Passat's front airbag "drifted" to avoid the dummy's head perfectly, the A-pillar bent nearly 90 degrees, the firewall collapsed seriously to the cockpit, and the front of the entire cockpit was miserable. Compared with other Japanese, American and domestic brand models, Passat obviously has unreasonable structure and strength.

It is worth mentioning that the American version of Volkswagen Passat got excellent reviews in the IIHS crash test under the same standard, and the cockpit was relatively intact after the collision. On the contrary, the domestic version sacrifices the safety of the bias collision and poses a life-threatening threat to the driver. compared with the American version, the domestic version highlights the fact that it is treated differently and has different standards.

Industry insiders commented that as the incident spread and fermented, it should also shake a considerable number of consumers' inherent impression of the Volkswagen brand.

However, SAIC-Volkswagen has taken "remedial" measures. In January, it was reported that SAIC Volkswagen voluntarily applied to hit Passat again, but the test institution was not C-IASI of China Insurance Research Institute, but C-NCAP of China Automobile Research Institute.

Unlike the China Insurance Research C-IASI, the collision severity of the China Automobile Research C-NCAP is less severe. For example, the CNPC Research C-IASI uses a 25% offset collision test, while the CAIC C-NCAP uses a 40% overlapping deformable barrier collision test. Therefore, theoretically speaking, the result of the C-NCAP of China Automobile Research Institute is better than that of the China Insurance Research C-IASI.

Passat is scheduled to conduct pedestrian protection tests from Feb. 5 to Feb. 10, and three real car collision tests will be conducted next, including 100% frontal collision, side collision and 40% frontal offset collision, according to the official news from C-NCAP. So, Passat's test results at C-NCAP will be officially announced soon.

Passat such an unbearable collision result, in the online continuous fermentation has indeed affected SAIC-Volkswagen's recent market performance to a certain extent, there have been obvious fluctuations in sales. But many netizens believe that with the passage of time, consumers gradually forget, maybe Passat will be on the list of best-selling models again.

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