Volkswagen Santana Picture Thread

[Kowalski]

At this point, you probably thinking: "What on earth is a VW Santana?"

Well, let me tell you:

China is a land with a population of 1.3 Billion people and the best selling car in China is a Volkswagen. So isn't that something to celebrate with a picture thread?

I think so.

That's why I crawled through the web to find the best pics of the VW's best selling car in China. And I came across a Brazilian website dedicated to this car.

These are the best pics I could find. In fact, these are the best you can find. I tried CSVW website and VWVortex but it was no good.

Santana 3000










I know it's not the prettiest Volkswagen ever, I know. And yes, the interior is not up to the German designed Volkswagen standards. But remember, the Santana was designed for emerging countries of the 3rd world and it serves the Chinese market quite well.

The model pictured above is the latest generation called "Santana 3000" (obviously the previous generation was called "Santana 2000" - look below). The 3000was introduced last year in the Chinese market.





The roots of both the Santana 2000 and the 3000 date from the VW Passat B3.

Believe it or not, but the Shanghai-Volswagen (SVW) still build the old Passat B2 since 1985 to this day under the name of Santana.

Santana





Whenever I find out the South Africans still make the original Golf Mk1 and the Brazilians still make the original VW Kombi Van to this day and era. I just can't help thinking, that Volkswagen indeed has the most interesting range of cars around the world.

It's nice to see the local Volkswagen executives are always finding a way to keep their own market steady, even if they have to reinvent the same old car on a limited budget and yet manage to keep the sales of the car still up.

[The Artist]

ohh lord no nation on the earth deserve that car

[MikeJ]

Hey, VW used the name in Europe for the Passat sedan back in the day when the mainstream Passat was a hatchback. I remember my father had borrowed a brand new Santana from somebody (this would have been back in 1985 or so) and I was so impressed by the car back then...

[Kowalski]

Originally Posted by The Artist

ohh lord no nation on the earth deserve that car

Why you say that?

The Santana 3000 is like a Phaeton compared to all those fake Chinese knock-offs! In fact, given the choice of a Chery QQ or death, I'd rather death.

I would definitely take a black Shanghai Santana 3000 like this one...




... over that POS Brilliance BS6 any day!

[The Artist]

im sure its great...but it looks horrible..its 2007 after all

[bmer]

I believe VW South Africa still has VW Citigolf (presented in 1974(?)) in production and VW Brazil has the VW Kombi which is also 30 years old vehicle.

VW Citigolf



VW Kombi: (The picture is from VW Brazil, today)




BTW MikeJ:

Joskus painovirhepaholainenkin antaa mallinimille oman vivahteensa. Kun Oulussa toimiva suuri VW-kauppias ilmoitti paikallisessa sanomalehdessä, että viikonloppuna on ensi kertaa näytteillä VW Saatana, osa yleisöstä pahastui. Heidän mielikuvituksensa ei riittänyt keksimään, että painovirhe teki Santanalle tepposensa. Mallisarja oli Passatin sedanversio. Körttikansan huumorintaju oli kovilla.

[Mr. M]

The Santanas in China are mainly used for taxis, right? My dad said they were bullcr*p... But as you said Kowalski, they are still better than those cars made in China.

[Kowalski]

So, for now though, we know the Santana is ugly (as I'm sure you all already noticed), it's not particularly well-built (look at that HUGE gap between the door and the dashboard) and as Mirage77 pointed out, it is a rubbish car but still better than most Chinese cars.

[Giannis]

guys don't forget, that many people DO consider money first when they buy a car. And when money matter we get the above...

[phaeton]

Originally Posted by Kowalski

At this point, you probably thinking: "What on earth is a VW Santana?"

Well, let me tell you:

China is a land with a population of 1.3 Billion people and the best selling car in China is a Volkswagen. So isn't that something to celebrate with a picture thread?

I think so.

That's why I crawled through the web to find the best pics of the VW's best selling car in China. And I came across a Brazilian website dedicated to this car.

These are the best pics I could find. In fact, these are the best you can find. I tried CSVW website and VWVortex but it was no good.

I know it's not the prettiest Volkswagen ever, I know. And yes, the interior is not up to the German designed Volkswagen standards. But remember, the Santana was designed for emerging countries of the 3rd world and it serves the Chinese market quite well.

VW do Brasil and Shanghai-Volkswagen co developed the Santana 2000 which was sold both in China and Sth America.

The model pictured above is the latest generation called "Santana 3000" (obviously the previous generation was called "Santana 2000" - look below). The 3000 was introduced last year in the Chinese market.

Santana 3000 was released in 2005, Santana 4000 will be released this year

The roots of both the Santana 2000 and the 3000 date from the VW Passat B3.

Actually its heavilly revised B2 Passat/Santana

Believe it or not, but the Shanghai-Volkswagen (SVW) still build the old Passat B2 since 1985 to this day under the name of Santana.




Whenever I find out the South Africans still make the original Golf Mk1 and the Brazilians still make the original VW Kombi Van to this day and era. I just can't help thinking, that Volkswagen indeed has the most interesting range of cars around the world.

VW does indeed have a very interesting lineup worldwide

It's nice to see the local Volkswagen executives are always finding a way to keep their own market steady, even if they have to reinvent the same old car on a limited budget and yet manage to keep the sales of the car still up.

FAW-VWs Mk1 Jetta is also a very popular car in China



VW @ Auto China 2006 ::Pictures:: http://www.germancarzone.com/showthread.php?t=7771

VW @ The 4th China Guangzhou International Automoblie Exhibition ::Pictures:: - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Official Auto China 2006 Galleries

FAW-VW - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER Click blue writing in bottom rh corner to access individually model gallery.

SVW - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER Click orange arrow writing in top rh corner to access individually model gallery.