I didn't realize VW had such an interesting history in China.
- Thread starter wemay
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Tech is the disrupter.
wemay
Site Donor 2023
China makes garbage, cheapened products... until they don't.
China is a huge market. Every major car company does business there and depends on that business.
If you go back in history, Japanese produced stuff was considered junk, but that changed. China is capable of making good stuff. Their market is entire world.
Karaoke in a car. 
VW is late to the game. Buick has had a huge presence in China for over a century. Contrary to the USA, Buick is the most favored car for people under the age of 35 in China and more Buicks are sold in China than the USA. I recently read that China is bringing 1 coal powered power plant on line every week. Maybe they will have enough power infrastructure to accommodate all their green energy goals in a decade or so…..
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What's called a Buick in China may not be available in the United States.
However, VW was the first western car company to set up assembly in China. I went on a vacation in China in the mid-80s but I don't remember seeing a VW. But I visited another city in 1993 and we paid a taxi driver for a day and the taxi was a relatively new VW. Don't really the model name though, but it was a compact hatchback and kind of a rattle trap. Someone in our group understood Chinese and said the driver told her that it the A/C (which it had) wasn't working. I thought that maybe he was too cheap to turn on the A/C.
Still - I've been to China over the years and have seen the big changes. In the 80s our tour groups were mostly going around in imported Toyota and Nissan minivans. By maybe 2014 I remember seeing Rolls Royce and Ferrari dealers. Things have definitely changed when it came to cars.
However, VW was the first western car company to set up assembly in China. I went on a vacation in China in the mid-80s but I don't remember seeing a VW. But I visited another city in 1993 and we paid a taxi driver for a day and the taxi was a relatively new VW. Don't really the model name though, but it was a compact hatchback and kind of a rattle trap. Someone in our group understood Chinese and said the driver told her that it the A/C (which it had) wasn't working. I thought that maybe he was too cheap to turn on the A/C.
Still - I've been to China over the years and have seen the big changes. In the 80s our tour groups were mostly going around in imported Toyota and Nissan minivans. By maybe 2014 I remember seeing Rolls Royce and Ferrari dealers. Things have definitely changed when it came to cars.
Their main concern is energy independence. You can blockade oil tankers and bomb pipeline from Russia but they have their own coal, own nuke, and own solar.VW is late to the game. Buick has had a huge presence in China for over a century. Contrary to the USA, Buick is the most favored car for people under the age of 35 in China and more Buicks are sold in China than the USA. I recently read that China is bringing 1 coal powered power plant on line every week. Maybe they will have enough power infrastructure to accommodate all their green energy goals in a decade or so…..
A lot of their owners hire drivers. That's a social status symbol and for liability reason (drinking is common in business dinner and drunk driving business owners can get the mob treatment if they kill someone).
I too remember taxi in Shanghai during my business trip 12 years ago being a very low end VW, something that's more suitable for Latin America than US or Europe. I would say the quality of the low end VW taxi in 2010 ish to be about the same as an early 90s Ford Escort in the US.
BYD is a threat to Tesla - and in the US to the Gillig/New Flyer bus duopoly. LA Metro is buying BYD K9 BEV buses instead of going CA’s hydrogen path or even from New Flyer. OnePlus and Xiaomi are giving Samsung and Apple a headache, especially in China. CATL and BYD are also active in batteries.
VW and GM plowed full speed ahead to get into the Chinese market. They had to deal with a ton of bureaucratic junk like being required to partner with a Chinese automotive manufacturer. This paid off huge as Buick and VW's are considered status symbols in China.
During 1994-2010 my dad rode in a the same taxi VW Santana anywhere he went for his job as VP of American company in China . They dominated the market then no clue now.
I believe they are top in market share still and VW largest market.
I believe they are top in market share still and VW largest market.
I think that's what we rode in around 1993 where we paid a taxi drive $50 for a whole day and also paid for his lunch. Our driver was more than happy to do it.
It was definitely a VW and a model name that I'd never seen in the United States. But for some reason I thought it might have been smaller. Maybe Fox sized but I can't find any history of the VW Fox (or the same car with a different model name) being sold in China. It was definitely something with a low hood and sharp angles.
It actually was a 1980s VW Quantum for North American market. They replaced with Passat in US and it grew.
China is big into nukes, they are building more new nuke plants than anyone. I think they know that coal is a stopgap.I recently read that China is bringing 1 coal powered power plant on line every week. Maybe they will have enough power infrastructure to accommodate all their green energy goals in a decade or so…..
A decade is actually a pretty good timeline for bringing a lot of new nuclear capacity online.
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