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According to several media reports, Santana, which is based on Volkswagen's old PQ25 platform, will also announce the suspension of production after the official suspension of Volkswagen Jetta models. According to a suspected SAIC Volkswagen Yizheng plant 2022-2023 model technical renovation project plan circulated online, the new Santana, Santana Haona, Xinrui and Xinyong will stop production after the technological transformation and switch to Tuyue, Lingdu, Polo and Tujia in the middle of production. At present, SAIC Volkswagen has not responded to the relevant information reported by the media, as well as whether the screenshot is true or false.

For the majority of Chinese people, Santana is definitely a classic model, as Volkswagen's first domestic model in China, together with Jetta and Fukang constitute the well-known "old three". Data show that Volkswagen introduced the first 100 Santana to China in 1983 in the form of full piece assembly (CKD), and later became Volkswagen's first domestic model in China, and it took only three years for Santana's 10000 domestic models to go offline. Subsequently, the Santana 2000, also from Brazilian Volkswagen, was officially launched in the Chinese market and evolved into models such as Santana 3000 and Santana Zhijun in the years since.

So why is Santana reduced to production suspension? In October 2012, SAIC-Volkswagen announced the formal suspension of production of the old Santana (Santana 87) and issued a "Goodbye, Santana" advertisement, announcing that the old Santana officially bid farewell to the Chinese people. However, Santana did not disappear. In December 2012, SAIC Volkswagen held a listing conference at the National Stadium in Beijing, and the new Santana appeared in the public eye with a new attitude. It is understood that the new Santana was built on the new PQ25+ platform, with 1.4L and 1.6L engines, as well as 8 different configurations, including manual and automatic in fifth gear, with a price range of 8.49-123800 yuan at that time. Based on the new platform, the new Santana in the appearance, interior, power, configuration and other aspects of new innovation, subverting consumers' perception of Santana. However, it is from this generation of Santana, "street car" Santana gradually lost its luster, in addition to the intensification of competition with the same class of products, SAIC Volkswagen Lang Yi suppressed Santana in sales, which also made Santana's situation more embarrassing.

Data show that Santana achieved sales of 289100 vehicles, 276400 vehicles, 255800 vehicles and 175700 vehicles respectively from 2017 to 2020, with cumulative sales of 100300 vehicles in the first three quarters of 2021. In terms of sales, although Santana's sales are declining year by year, it is still the signature model of SAIC Volkswagen, and the average monthly sales can be maintained at more than 10,000 vehicles. So in the end, if SAIC Volkswagen gives up Santana, it is probably not because of sales, but because of the double points policy.

The so-called "double integral" is obtained by adding the average fuel consumption integral and the new energy vehicle integral. If the fuel consumption of the produced vehicle is higher than the fuel consumption standard, you will get a negative integral. On the contrary, if the fuel consumption of the produced vehicle is lower than the fuel consumption standard, you will get a positive integral. If the points earned by car companies are negative in a statistical cycle, they will either buy points from other car companies or be restricted from declaring new cars. For a carmaker, being restricted from declaring new cars is a huge blow.

According to relevant statistics, in 2020, for example, SAIC-Volkswagen's average fuel consumption is 5.18L/ 100 km, while Santana's 100 km comprehensive fuel consumption is 5.6 L, which will generate negative points for each Santana sold. On the whole, the average fuel consumption score of SAIC-Volkswagen in 2020 is-689628 points, and the current price of a negative integral is about 5000 yuan. SAIC-Volkswagen needs to spend a lot of money just to buy points. At present, because the domestic traditional automobile manufacturers are not ideal in selling new energy vehicles and the fuel consumption of the fuel vehicles they produce is higher than the standard, they need a lot of money to buy new energy positive points from new energy vehicle companies every year. Tesla, BYD, NIO, Xiaopeng and so on have all achieved additional income through the sales of new energy points.

Of course, it is also unreasonable to blame the shutdown entirely on the double points policy. Some market analysts believe that the low premium capacity means that Santana can not provide considerable profits, and it is no longer in line with the public's pursuit of a higher-end and younger brand image. In fact, as early as three years ago, it was revealed that Santana would stop production. At that time, there was market speculation that SAIC-Volkswagen might adopt FAW-Volkswagen Jetta to separate Santana into a brand. In March 2019, Jetta officially became an independent brand and launched three models: VA3, VS5 and VS7, but at present, the sales of Jetta brand models are not even as good as those of Jetta single models at that time.

However, the double points policy does put a lot of pressure on Volkswagen, which needs to spend a lot of money to buy double points every year, and it is difficult to make a substantial profit even if it sells more cars. At present, Volkswagen has accelerated the layout of new energy in China, successively launched pure electric models such as ID.4 X/ID.4 CROZZ, ID.6 X/ID.6 CROZZ, ID.3, and achieved preliminary results, and the pressure of this transformation not only benefits from the global trend of electrification of new energy, but also comes from the pressure of double points, but no matter what the reason, Volkswagen electrified transformation is inevitable.

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