When VW brings a new imported model into China it’s usually to test the waters before going into production locally, if local buyers show a strong interest in the car but are put off by the import price on the car then you can bet your hat that VW will put it into production in the Chinese market. One car niche that has not yet been fully exploited in China is the wagon range, of course several car makers have already attempted the market with GM introducing the Buick Excelle in wagon form a few years ago, and Mazda introduced the last generation of Mazda6 into China in 2007, the Excelle was a hit, the Mazda6 flopped. A few years before either the Excelle or the Ma6 were even in production Shanghai-VW introduced the Santana wagon which was also a flop, the Peugeot introduced the 505 at the same time, results were similar.

But in 2011 it appears that wagons are the new niche to exploit with Mercedes already doing well with the C-Class wagon, VW have already introduced the R36 wagon and Opel, GM and a multitude of other manufacturers preparing their own wagons for the Chinese market. Prices for the forthcoming Golf Cross, Plus and Wagon have not yet been announced but we can guess they will be in the 150,000rmb to 200,000rmb price segment where as the Golf R+ and Scirroco R+ are likely to be in the 300,000rmb and rising price zone.