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For the broad masses of Chinese, Santana is definitely a classic model. As the first model made by Volkswagen in China, it constitutes the well-known "old three" with Jetta and Fukang. However, this model has fallen or stopped production.

According to terminal data, Santana sold only 32 vehicles in November 2023, ranking the lowest for the Volkswagen brand. In terms of annual sales, Santana sold 31447 vehicles in the first 11 months of 2023, ranking 14th among Volkswagen brands, but its sales have declined month by month in recent months, from 7538 in April 2023 to 1063 in June 2023, about 100 in August-October 2023, and less than 100 in November 2023 for the first time. In addition, it can be seen that Santana's wholesale sales have been in single digits since the second quarter of 2023, indicating that SAIC Volkswagen has stopped wholesale Santana models to dealers, which means the model may have been discontinued.

In fact, as early as the end of 2021, a suspected SAIC Volkswagen Yizheng plant 2022-2023 model technical transformation project plan circulated online, showing that the new Santana, Santana Haona, Xinrui and Xinyong will stop production after the technological transformation, and the mid-term production will be changed to Tuyue, Lingdu, Polo and Tujie. At that time, SAIC Volkswagen responded, "Santana did not officially stop production, Santana terminal sales are stable." today, two years later, we don't know whether Santana will stop production, but it really seems to have its final destiny.

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.

In October 2012, SAIC-Volkswagen announced the formal suspension of production of the old Santana (Santana 87) and issued a "good-bye, Santana" advertisement, announcing that the old Santana was officially delisted. In December of the same year, the new Santana made its debut in Wolfsburg, Germany, and then SAIC Volkswagen introduced it to China. 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, but it is from this generation of Santana, "streetcar" Santana gradually lost its luster, in addition to the intensification of competition with the same level of products, SAIC Volkswagen Lang Yi suppressed Santana in sales, which also makes Santana's situation more and more embarrassing. Terminal sales data show that Lang Yi sold 292500 vehicles in November 2023, making it the best-selling model of the Volkswagen brand.

Whether it stops production or not, whether it is delisted or not, it can no longer change the fact that Santana is no longer accepted by the market, and its product competitiveness has long been unable to attract new consumers. At present, the Santana model for sale in 2021, in October 2020, the price is 8.69-111800 yuan, the power is equipped with EA211 1.5L naturally aspirated engine, the maximum power 82kW, the maximum torque 145N m. In addition to the fact that the product is not as competitive as its competitors, the design style of this model has long been out of date and is also difficult to be accepted by the marketing department.

In June 2023, SAIC-Volkswagen launched a new compact car, the Lang Yi Xin Rui, with a price range of 999-123900 yuan. Although Lang Yi Xinrui is known as the Lang Yi family, the car is actually not a derivative of Lang Yi, but a domestic style introduced into the overseas version of the Polo hatchback, which can be seen as a classic sequel to Santana from the pedigree point of view.

Judging from the information available, Santana may have stopped production, its terminal sales are declining month by month, its models have not been updated for two years, and SAIC-Volkswagen launched Lang Yi in June to replace Santana's market position. it is not difficult to guess that SAIC-Volkswagen has abandoned Santana, even though the model is still available on SAIC-Volkswagen's website.

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