Nissan Sunny coming back into production – because cars never die in China
Cars never die in China, never. They sort of humble along and get sold alongside newer models so that auto makers can attract the bargain bin customer who wants a large car at an economy price, and then they have the customer that thinks about aesthetics and modernity. VW are the kings of this trade, they first put the Santana into production in 1991 in China, several years after it went in and out of production in Germany, they did the same with the mark2 Jetta, both of which are still available today alongside their modern counterparts, VW even offers different generations of Passat just to confuse people even some more. Hyundai have done it with the Elantra, Mazda are doing it with the Mazda6, they are doing it because it works fantastically. Now Nissan are planning to get in on the action by reproducing the 2005 Nissan Sunny in 2010. The idea seems to be that the Sunny will be positioned and priced higher than the Nissan Tiida but below the Nissan Bluebird Sylphy and will be aimed at those that require a big car attached to a big brand but don’t want to pay big pricing, hence the addition of a late 90′s car in 2010.
Initially it was believed that Nissan were planning to give the Sunny platform over to joint venture partner Dongfeng for their own self developed vehicle range, but now it seems the Sunny will be seeing the sun one more time.
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Not sure if this is a good move on Nissan’s part. The Tiida seems like a pretty good vehicle. Seen more of them around Guangzhou lately.
the santana was never produced or sold in germany. i have not seen a single santana on german roads either… just a small correction
Great blog, keep it up guys!
The Santana was produced in Europe from ’80 til ’85, after which it was renamed Passat, and kept in production til ’88. If you haven’t seen one that’s just because they’re old and nobody drives one anymore.
Check your facts before you correct
Santana was a Brazilian VW, produced years ago.
The Santana is the Mark 2 Passat in most European countries. That means that there are actually 3 versions of the Passat on sale now in China. Plus if my memory serves me correctly production of the Santana in China started in 1984 not 1991.
Correct. And by 1988, the Passat Mark 2 was superseeded by the Mark 3 in Germany.
Hello Oliver, the “Stufenhecklimousine” VW Santana was taken into production in Germany in the Autumn of 1981. From 1985 on the car was called Passat CL (Stufenheck), the production ended in 1989, when a new Passat was taken into production. The car was never a big success, the fastback sold much better!
The Santana was sold as SANTANA at least in Scandinavia. For your information, but this was rather a long time ago – and there is no one left, for sure…
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