This car has been a confusing sight for China Car Times over the past few days, we’ll let you see why:
The ‘new’ Bora is available as a 1.6 or 1.8 engine with the choice of either auto or manual shift. We think this comment rather sums up the whole situation.
Volkswagon Chinas line up is by far one of the most confusing in China - they have super old models (i.e. Jetta) competing against old models (i.e. Bora) competing against new models (i.e. Sagitar) One day, we will map out VW Chinas offerings amongst its various JV partners.
Not hard to see why the Chinese are confused.
It has confused the cr*p out of me!
Feedback I hear from some Chinese work colleagues is that the current VW Golf is considered to a bit ugly. I don’t think changing the name to Bora is going to change that opinion somehow.
FAW VW need to realign the model offering in China now. China consumers are now in the position to vote with their wallets just as easily as their European cousins do.
Glad to see you called it a Gold, Patrick. I was wondering about what my eyes were seeing and the car names in the post.
Wikipedia explains the Jetta, Bora, Sagitar names. Don’t forget, Canada has the “Bora” and Sagitar. I think the “Bora” is a City Jetta, or something like that.
Sorry, I meant GOLF in the above post.
Im going to disagree with you, Chinese market is not in that position yet, you can not compare the chinese and the european markets and even more you can not compare the european costumer with the chinese costumer. The europeans dont vote with their wallets as a factor, they go for sophistication, practicity, style and technology, the wallet is not a factor. In europe the only concern about money is at the moment of fill the tank.
Here in china the costumers can only go with as much practicity as they can afford, the wallet here is a big factor. There is only a few with the privilege of choosing without thinking about the money.
Ive seen a few ‘Boras’ over the past week.
Perhaps the Golf was always too expensive in China, so now that it has been demoted to ‘Bora’ it is more affordable in Chinese eyes.
If VW is to recapture some of its former glory days in the China market, it’s going to have to do better than models as Bora-ing as this one. The more sophisticated Chinese customer will not settle for less.
No matter how confusing, simple or boring a VW can look, any model is by far the best deal you can find in the market if you compare it with any other chinese brand. You dont need to be very smart to see this. Even the very simple looking Santana is an outstanding car in front of any other in the category.
Anyway Im not sure how sophisticated the chinese costumer could be, I think you are talking about a little portion of the costumer share in the market.
You can always buy a GOL if you get confused. F knows where the F went!!
The Gol was for the three developing markets, India, Brazil, and China.
I guess to cut down on costs they knocked the back doors off and made the car shorter. The F must have been knocked off to save on cost.
I’ve often wondered how VW can get away with flogging such old designs here and often having multiple generation version of essentially the same car, i.e. Jetta, Bora, Sagitar, and then Santana, Santana 3000, Passat and Ma(whatever the name for the new Passat is). What I think it really boils down to is market segmentation. China is not one market. If you look at the major cities buyers are often not majorly different to western markets and so the newer designs appeal to private buyers. However when you get to say taxis cost is a major factor. Also perhaps part of the Passat B2’s (Santana) enduring success is the fact it has been sold here for so long. Pretty much any garage in the country can repair the thing. That’s an important consideration in remote regions.
Quality, reliability and good design are the answers, since the original VW Bettle volkswagen have had high quality standards, low maintenance and reasonable price for their products, I think all this factors in china right now are very important.
Mudosanto I think that the current Chinese consumer is just not going to settle for anything that’s not on the leading edge of auto technology and design.
Granted that the Santana will probably enjoy a place in the China auto hall of fame, the market is changing rapidly. Peugeot learned the hard way when it tried to push the ole 504.
With Vee Dub planning to announce 12 - yes TWELVE new models in China by 2009 we will be sure to see some interesting cross breds and abortions with even more strange and obtuse names.
Shows over folks.
Bora HS (the above car) is GAME OVER. Its being removed from sale, due to its poor sales. The new face lifted Bora will probably take its place.
…and they only sold 8,000 units in 2007.