It seems that when joint venture companies are left to their own devices to design, develop and produce cars for the Chinese market sales volume is sure to be had with a product that is able to capture the admiration and wallet of the local populace. See the VW Lavida for such an example, Wolfsburg apparently provided a platform and power train and told Shanghai-VW to get on with the design themselves, the Lavida has thus become one of the most popular cars in China with it topping the sales charts month after month.

Three box sedans aren’t always the future of the car market, a growing number of younger buyers are opting for hatchback models which has led more manufacturers to offer hatchback versions of their top sedan models, the Nissan Tiida was a popular model before the China-Japan diplomatic issue last September, VW’s Golf has also been a popular model, as has the Polo. Next up is the Lavida Hatch, which the Chinese media are calling the Lavida Sportback. Previously we, along with the Chinese media, posted these images under Skoda Fabia Wagon, but apparently this is the new Lavida hatch that should be on the market in the middle of 2013 powered by the same 1.6L NA and 1.4TSI engines as its sedean brother.