The original Santana is still made in China, and the good news for fans of old autos is that the Santana 1000 can now be had for the bargain price of 60,000rmb to 70,000rmb.
Previously, several models were offered, however due to dwindling sales Shanghai VW now only offer two models for the motorist who prefers a bit of German klasse class. The standard 1.8 Santana will set you back 69,000rmb and the ‘luxury’ 1.8 Santana is 79,000rmb. We’re not sure what exactly classes as a luxury on a 20 year old car, electric windows perhaps?
what’s with the chinese and these jurassic VWs??
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I suppose there’s plenty of modern offerings in the chinese market for the price range..!
My father works at a VW dealer and let me try to tell you this old grandfather’s car is still being made in China, simply because you could always find a group of people obsessed with large, well reputated business cars, however old it is. These customers are usually from the vast rural areas of the country, where definition of a nice car differs from that of cities. For lots of them, getting out of a cute, but small car is just something ”losing face”…
Actually, in the city markets, santata just dosn’t sell, it could hardly find its customers with taxis being perhaps an exception
I can only imagine that “santana” screams for “reliability” in China…
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that’s the only way I can figure why they not only still make these vehicles, but sell a lot of them!
“We’re not sure what exactly classes as a luxury on a 20 year old car, electric windows perhaps?”
Well there are also electric mirrors and a heated rear window and the oh so luxurious A/C.
Being an owner of a prime 07 model……no mechanical issues since day one. A door ding is just another door ding. Anyone anywhere can fix it…..and I blend……till I get out of it.
It works well for what it costs, looks business like…… unlike most anything else in it’s price range. Another bonus is the interior is not light tan like every other car made in China.
I rented a Santana the other week, and was hit (not literally) by two things:
1. You get absolutely no respect on the roads (perhaps not limited to the Santana)
2. It takes 25 minutes to work out which black Santana is yours in the car park at Carrefour.