You need to know these before the new Volkswagen brand is released.

In 2018, the Chinese auto market suffered the first negative growth in 28 years. Some insiders predicted that the icy chill of the Chinese auto market has arrived. However, FAW-Volkswagen still maintains its sales volume of 2 million units a year, and a stable overall performance.

At the beginning of this year, FAW-Volkswagen set a sales target that is to increase its overall sales volume by 3.7%. Among them, the Volkswagen brand has a sales target of 1.445 million units, the Audi brand 680,000 units. In addition, the upcoming Volkswagen brand new sub-brand is also the basis for achieving the annual sales target. The new brand will be released in Wolfsburg, Germany on February 26, which will be dominated by Volkswagen, and FAW-Volkswagen will introduce it to the Chinese market for production and sales.

The Volkswagen chose to launch the new brand in Germany, which is apparently trying to prove that the new sub-brand has the same "German blood” as other brands of the Volkswagen Group, and may even face the global market in the future. The new brand will be introduced into China by FAW-Volkswagen, and it is also a long-term layout to continue to expand market share and combat market risks.

Unveil the mystery of the new sub-brand of Volkswagen

In fact, as early as 2017 when FAW-Volkswagen released its “2025 strategy”, it had officially proposed to launch a third brand to form a "troika" with the existing Volkswagen and Audi brands to meet market demand to a greater extent.

What’s more, speculation about Volkswagen's new sub-brands has not been broken. Because Volkswagen has introduced entry-level models in India and Brazil, it has been labeled as cheap.

In fact, this is a misunderstanding of the outside world. Although the positioning of the new sub-brand is lower than the Volkswagen brand, it is not a cheap quality, nor a so-called joint venture brand. On the contrary, the new brand is dominated by the German Volkswagen, which will position the young and fashionable brand image, pay more attention to quality, and will also launch the new brand LOGO.

With the public information of the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, the third brand will be launched with the name of “捷达” (Jie Da in Pingyin). The exposure of the previous brand LOGO and model name registration information has also made the future planning of the new sub-brands of the public more and more popular. clear. Although there is no final official announcement yet, this new Volkswagen sub-brand has been introduced into FAW-Volkswagen production and sales.

We have inquired from the Trademark Office of National Intellectual Property Administration that Volkswagen has registered a brand new LOGO in China. In addition, when searching about the new trademark of FAW-Volkswagen and the slogan “承非凡·启新境”, this means that since the introduction of the Chinese market in 1991, the Sagitar models that are popular in the streets, and it will continue to ride in the Chinese auto market in a new identity that is named the FAW-Volkswagen "捷达" brand.

In addition, FAW-Volkswagen also registered the "VA3", "VS5" and "VS7" model brands respectively, which will correspond to the A SH sedan, which is based on the current Sagitar, A SUV and A+SUV.

Two new cars will be launched within 2019

The VA3 will be built on the current FAW-Volkswagen Sagitar, and the exterior and interior will be adjusted. It is also the only sedan currently available for the new brand. The body size is 4487/1706/1470mm and the wheelbase is 2603mm. And it may use the same powertrain of current Sagitar.

The VS5 is a compact SUV with a body size of 4400/8411/1661mm and a wheelbase of 2,630mm. According to the spy photos, the shape is expected to adopt the design style of the SEAT atca, and the trapezoidal grille is chrome-plated and easily being recognized. The lamp sets on both sides are treated in black, and the internal structure is clearly layered, which is very three-dimensional.

VS7

Currently, the VS7 has no spy photos, but it is inferred from the body size and naming that it will be a SUV with a position higher than VS5. The new car has a body size of 4600/1841/1661mm, a wheelbase of 2730mm, or will be built on the Seat Tarraco which is a medium-sized SUV released at the Paris Motor Show in 2018.

The new brand will be put into production at the Chengdu plant

In the future, the three models of the new brand will be produced by FAW-Volkswagen Chengdu Branch, of which A SUV (VS5) production capacity is 75,000 vehicles per year, A+SUV (VS7) is 150,000, and the SH (VA3) sedan is 75,000. In addition, the new brand products will share the after-sales system with FAW-Volkswagen.

In addition, we can see from the updated technical capacity of FAW-Volkswagen Chengdu factory that the current Sagitar series sedans have not changed, which means that Sagitar will continue to be produced. The VA3 model is based on Sagitar and adopts the modular production structure of the Volkswagen Group to realize the commonality of components, which effectively reduce the development cost and manufacturing cost of the vehicle, and provide strong price competitiveness for the new car.

Volkswagen's new sub-brand positioning

FAW-Volkswagen Audi is a luxury brand, paying more attention to technology and grades. Volkswagen Group applies all the latest technology and technology to the flagship model. However,  FAW-Volkswagen is a mid-range brand, paying more attention to practicality and quality, and the price is relatively affordable.

In recent years, Chinese brands have firmly occupied the RMB100,000-level market. On one hand, the joint venture brand has witnessed the popularity of this market and willing to enter in, but on the other hand, it is unwilling to lower the position and compete with Chinese brands. However, Volkswagen has taken a different approach. By creating a new brand, it can rely on the technical support of the Volkswagen Group, and can directly compete with Chinese brands in the market with prices below 100,000 yuan.

In addition, as Chinese brands continue to work in the low-end market, the living space of some joint venture brands has been squeezed. Although the development space in first- and second-tier cities is now close to saturation, third- and fourth-tier cities and township markets remain to be discovered. Although the low-end market has low profits, the market prospect is bright. At the same time, the new round of “cars going to the countryside” policy will be restarted in 2019. Faced with such a broad space, this year is the time for the new sub-brands of Volkswagen to be introduced into the Chinese market.