Santana 3000 to hit the market

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Santana 3000 to hit the market

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The Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Company will offer its self-developed Santana 3000 series sedans soon, which are expected to be a hit in the car market this year, the Shanghai VW announced yesterday.

Besides the Santana 3000, the Shanghai VW plans to offer another new model - Touran - this year, the first compact Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV) of the Germany-based VW.

Compared with their predecessor Santana 2000, the new models have large improvements in appearance, especially at the front and rear sides of the body.

Frequency Conversion air-conditioners are installed in the Santana 3000 models, according to an industry analyst, adding that the new models are expected to gain at least the same market shares as Santana 2000.

"We will give a big surprise to car buyers fond of Santana brand," said the spokesman with the public relations department of Shanghai VW, who declined to shed light on the prices of the new models.

In order to differentiate with Santana 2000 and Passat models, Shanghai VW is likely to set the prices of the new models between 160,000 and 180,000 yuan (US$19,300-US$21,700), some local dealers predicted.

After the new models hit the market, the Santana 2000 sedans will stop production as planned, but their parts will continue to be supplied for a certain long time period, said the spokesman with Shanghai VW, adding that many parts of Santana 2000 can also be adopted in Santana 3000.

According to general rules, after a car model stops production, its parts usually have a life span of at least five years.

Local car dealers have cut the prices of their Santana 2000 models by 5,000 yuan recently, with the models sold between 146,000 and 175,000 yuan currently.

The Santana sedans, the predecessor of Santana 2000 and available in the market for more than 20 years, reported sales of more than 120,000 last year. "We are considering new changes on the models, but it will be a hefty expenditure," said the spokesman with the Shanghai VW.

Source:China Daily

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