The old VW Jetta is the workhorse of the Chinese economy, without the Jetta there would be no new China, the two go hand in hand so well. Of course, the entire state of the blooming Chinese economy cannot be laid squarely on the VW Jettas shoulders, but China does spend billions of dollars per year on the Jetta, either for personal use, military use (low ranking officers have them for personal cars), police use, and most importantly, the taxi cab.
Most Jetta taxis in Qingdao are around 7 years old, which means they will all be scrapped later this year, and rightly so, most of the sills are rotten, the wings/fenders are disspearing thanks to the infamous tin worm that seems to eat up old VW Santanas and Jettas for lunch. But now, the Chinese people can rejoice because they’ve got an entirely new Jetta, all for themselves. This Jetta is only for the Chinese market (we believe) and is based off the Bora platform, its not quite a Sagitar, but its not quite the old Jetta. The Chinese have waited a long time for a new Jetta, and this one looks like its worth waiting for!
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For our readers, this is the Sagitar:
The Sagitar seems to be the Jetta in certain markets, the Jetta as the Chinese know it is below:
This however, is the brand new spanking Jetta that should see a production run later next year. The new Jetta was designed by inhouse by FAW according to our sources, FAW seem to be making quite a design house portfolio up north in Changchun, their Besturn wasnt a bad looking car either.
As much as it may shock some of you, but old Dog Tucker- AKA me - thinks the Besturn (apart from its name) is a fine car, not a damn fine car, but for a Chinese designed and made car (with of course Mazda running gear) a fine driving car with reasonable quality as well. Im driving one at present while awaiting my smashed RR parts to arrive. Its a tad gutless but for Chinese roads a lack of grunt and speed can be a bonus!
Im sure the FAW ‘new’rehashed Jeta will be ok as well, the oldy Golf with a boot sure has passed its merits with flying colours.
As far as I can see the Sagitar is the Euro spec Jetta rebadged. And the new Chinese Jetta is….a bit of a mystery. Surely these cars must be very similar in size so why sell both? Can someone shed any light on VW’s policy of selling lots of cars that seem to compete with one another?
I think both JV partners were tagging at VWs apron strings nagging for small/mid/large size sedans, so VW gave them, and they ended up in a right pickle.
VW seems to be running a few generations of cars alongside each other…… Perhaps someone from Shanghai VW can explain, we know you read
@Colin G: The European Jetta is too big of a leap from the old Jetta to be its replacement. Don’t forget, the current Jetta in PRC was the sedanversion of the Golf 2. Between that model and the current European Jetta/PRC’s Sagitar there were two models: the Vento and the Bora (in the US they were still called Jetta).
We had time to grow from the old to the new Jetta, in China it would be a tremendous leap. That’s why they need a model to go in between, which is cheaper and more basic. Basically it’s the European Bora (the predecessor of the current Jetta) with a bunch of modifications. Just like there VW Passat Lingyu is the old model with Audi A6 headlights and a new face to match the new VW-look.
What they call the Bora overthere is actually a Golf 4 with new headlights.
Someday they will have the same, recent, cars like we do, and even models only for the Chinese market. Untill then, they have to manage with models who have allready earned back there investments in other parts of the world.
BTW, the current Euro-Passat is called Magotan in China, while the old Passat and facelifted Passat Lingyu stays in production. Some people would like to say this kind of things only works in China, but in Europe more and more brands are trying the same. They keep the old model of a popular car in production as a budget-model, for example the Renault Clio and Citroën Xsara Picasso, and the old Fiat punto which will now be sold as Zastava 10.
here in europe we wantthe old jetta the one you are currently replacing, none of the ventos/boras/jettas that have came after the old jetta -1984-1992 were anywhere near as good especialy in 1.6 diesel this engine was replaced with a greatly inferior 1.9 that gave trouble and needed more fuel- china should keep the old jetta along with the new to give choice to the people
here in europe we want the old jetta the one you are currently replacing, none of the ventos/boras/jettas that have came after the old jetta -1984-1992 were anywhere near as good especialy in 1.6 diesel this engine was replaced with a greatly inferior 1.9 that gave trouble and needed more fuel- china should keep the old jetta along with the new to give choice to the people