According to a comprehensive foreign news report, the Volkswagen Group plans to launch a new budget car (BudgetCar) in China and other markets within three years. The new car will be priced between 5.5 and 76,000 yuan. However, compared with the original plan, the public low-cost car project was delayed by four years, and the price was about 30% higher. Self-Tapping Screws,Self Drilling Screws,Self Tapping Bolts,Self Drilling Metal Screws Suzhou Chenran Precision Fasteners Co., Ltd. , https://www.chenranhardware.com
Shortly before the listing in 2018, Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn accepted an interview with Germany's "Bildam Sonntag", during which it mentioned the long-rumored new low-cost car brand project: "2018 We will bring the entire range of cheap cars, including SUVs, cars and hatchbacks."
Wendern also reiterated that the cheap car family will be put into production in China. In addition to China, new cheap cars are also expected to be sold to other countries. "We will observe whether other markets are also interested in new low-cost cars." According to the analysis, new cheap cars will play an important role in the market in Southeast Asia. Volkswagen had always hoped to launch small cars/cheap cars to cope with market demand in Southeast Asia. For this reason, it also cooperated with Suzuki, but failed to achieve its goals.
In terms of price, Wendeng said that the price of the new car will range from 8,000 euros ($8,932) to 11,000 euros, or about 55,450 yuan to 76,240 yuan.
Wendeng’s latest public information is significantly different from Volkswagen’s previous low-cost car program.
First of all, in terms of progress, in 2012, foreign media revealed that Volkswagen has built cheap cars in China, and the release time is 2014. The three body forms of cars, SUVs and hatchbacks are consistent with the current situation. Secondly, in terms of price, the figures given by the former public executives were 6,000 to 8,000 euros, and the latest statement rose by 33% to 37.5%; however, if the exchange rate changes are taken into account, the price increase in China will be smaller. The third is the target market. The early claims were China and Europe, and now ASEAN is added.
According to the information compiled by Gasgoo.com, the “difficult to produce†and “price increase†of Volkswagen's cheap cars are actually closely related to cost control. In 2013, there was a report that the car was delayed due to poor cost control, and then there were frequent jumps. The cost is high and the final pressure will still be passed on to the end consumers, which will also be reflected in the selling price.
Renewing parts and cutting costs In order to keep the cost of cheap cars within an acceptable range, Volkswagen has implemented a series of tactics. The key step is that the company will develop a new low-cost component system (ComponentsSet) that can support the car and SUV architecture; the car and SUV versions of the two cheap cars will "share as many common parts as possible. ". At the same time, the foreign media also gave a latest rendering of a cheap car.
Currently, this set of general-purpose components is being designed and developed. In addition, the source also indicates that Volkswagen executives believe that such a car is not suitable for the Volkswagen logo, and the positioning of the Volkswagen passenger car brand is the higher end of the mass market. Therefore, the cheap car is likely to become the 13th brand of the Volkswagen Group just like the previous reports of foreign media.
Early German sources said that the Volkswagen cheap car will be derived from the PQ24 old platform instead of the new advanced platform. Although the latest report does not confirm that the cheap car will replace the new model platform, the newly developed universal component system still has the potential to point to the new platform.
The Volkswagen Group is pursuing a modular and component versatility strategy to create five modular platform architectures: engine transverse modular platform MQB, engine longitudinal modular platform MLB, engine mid-module platform MSB, small car series NSF and Commercial vehicle modular platform. The same platform-derived models have a large number of parts that can be shared with each other to achieve economies of scale and reduce costs.
From the tortuous road of cheap car projects, the cost is still a difficult one. In theory, modularization and component versatility can help cost control. Perhaps this is why the public has not hesitated to spend research and development costs, and finally chose to adopt a new set of general-purpose components.
Of course, modular platforms and versatile components are not omnipotent. According to the research results of the Geshi Automobile Research Institute, the cost reduction effect of the modular platform needs to reach a certain scale in terms of production and sales; before the scale economy is reached, the improvement of the production line, the replacement of tooling molds, and the decline in the efficiency of workers may even bring more More cost burden.
If the mass cheap cars have to meet expectations and capture the low-end car market in China, there are still many obstacles to be overcome.