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New Chinese VW Lavida Vs. US VW Jetta

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The Lavida is another “Golf with a trunk” type sedan that has been sold in China for many years. 
So basically, a Chinese Jetta. With its own design.
At first, this new 3rd generation looked exactly like the new Jetta to me.
But upon closer inspection, you can tell it is actually still different. (Way to waste money VW…)

 Same thing here. At first the profiles look the same. But they are not. All the body panels seem to be different. Yet so similar…

 Insides, both consoles look the same. But the Lavida has a much cheaper looking dash.

Since we are sharing the Passat and Atlas with China, I am not sure why VW keeps making a “different Jetta” over there. Especially since they almost look exactly the same.

Aren’t they trying to save money these days???

Conversation 3 comments

  1. Oh, it's much, much more complicated than this. VW has two different joint ventures in China with two manufacturers, and each of these builds a different range of vehicles that are sold through different dealerships. SAIC-VW in Shanghai makes the China-only VW Lavida, VW Lamando and VW Santana, and the VW Passat (which is like the American Passat); FAW-VW in Changchun makes the China-only VW Bora, the VW Jetta (like the American Jetta), the VW Sagitar (European Jetta), VW Magotan (European Passat) and the VW CC. This means that VW has a total of 9 (NINE!) sedans of various shapes and sizes competing against each other in the Chinese market. This seems absolutely f**king insane to me, but somehow it works fantastically well for VW, because they all sell like hotcakes.

  2. if you're making a car that costs $20,000 to build per car, but you sold it for $25,000, and you knew you could make that same car at a cheaper price with cost cutting here and there, make it look different but no real reinvestment in the manufacturing process, and still sell it for $25,000, would you still insist on making strictly the expensive versions?

  3. The major stampings (roof, door openings) look the same, so the differences are only skin deep (sheetmetal deep?).
    I don't think VW spent a lot of money making this car different from the Jetta. They needed to make two sets of tooling anyway, for the two factories. Why not give the Chinese market deeper creases, if that's what they like?

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