March 9th is being set aside as the launch date for the New Jetta. The New Jetta was aired at the Chengdu Auto Show in October this year and was then pushed out of the limelight at the Guangzhou Auto Show where the New Santana and New Bora took to the stage instead. Although we were across the road from the Chengdu Auto Show when attending the Global Automotive Forum, we saw the crowds rushing for access to the show on public day and figured CCT could go without Chengdu Auto Show coverage.

The New Jetta sits on top of the PQ25 platform which is shared with the Polo and the Skoda Rapid, which will likely fall into the same pricing bracket when launched. If you thought the New Jetta would be a reasonably priced car to bring potential economy buyers into the VW fold you were wrong. Nissan are a strong example of how to mix low cost and high cost products in a dealership and sell well, on one hand they have brought the Nissan March and Livina to China which start at a mere 70,000RMB and bring in major sales volumes, and they also have the larger and more expensive SUV and sedan range that are priced 200,000RMB to 300,000RMB. VW’s New Jetta, according to media reports, will be priced from 83,400RMB to 118,400RMB which slightly overlaps the New Bora’s 119,000RMB to 134,000RMB price tag. Of course the Bora comes with a 1.6L or 1.4TSI, where as the New Jetta gets a 1.4L or a 1.6L with 6 speed automatic and manual gearbox.

The question is, “will it sell?” with Chinese consumers shying away from Japanese cars due to them being “unsafe”, European, Korean and American brands are getting a bigger say in the market whilst the patriots are opting for higher end Chinese models. In the Chinese market you could put the VW brand on literally anything and it would sell in numbers big enough to make rival manufacturers groan.