2024-04-12 20:16:18
Production of updated hatchbacks and station wagons has begun at Volkswagen’s head plant in Wolfsburg. Volkswagen Golf. The premiere of the modernized family took place back in January. The first car to roll off the assembly line was the Golf Style hatchback, painted Anemone metallic blue. In addition, the Wolfsburg plant recently celebrated the production of 48 million cars: this amount has been produced since 1945, and no other car plant in the world can boast of similar production figures. The lion’s share of this circulation was taken by Golfs of all generations (20 million cars), the classic Beetle was in second place (12 million), and Tiguan was in third (3.5 million).
Meanwhile Volkswagen intends to invest an additional 2.5 billion euros in its new technical center in the Chinese city of Hefei. This complex has already cost the concern $1.1 billion. Such a solid investment should help reduce the development time for new electric vehicles for the local market by 30%, because by 2030 the company plans to offer more than 30 electric models to Chinese customers. There is a reason for such vigorous activity in the Middle Kingdom: Volkswagen wants to regain its lost leadership in the Chinese market, which was taken from it by the electric giant BYD.
The company itself BYD back in 2022, it accepted 2.26 billion yuan in direct investment from the Chinese government. The German Institute in Kiel came to this conclusion. According to him, the Chinese government spends 3-9 times more to support its own auto industry than the United States or Germany. Moreover, a considerable part of the subsidies goes to one company, BYD. However, 99% of companies registered in China receive government support in one form or another. According to the German institute, such findings should help the EU in the upcoming customs battle with China.
The Italian government called the production of the newest crossover Alfa Romeo Milan illegal in Poland. This is the opinion of the head of the Italian Ministry of Industry and Trade, Adolfo Urso: they say that there is nothing Italian in a car named after the city of Milan, but produced in Poland. This may be misleading to the buyer and may be contrary to local consumer protection laws. The head of the Stellantis concern, Carlos Tavares, retorted that if Polish production is replaced with Italian production, the price of a compact SUV will soar by 10 thousand euros. It seems that passions are heating up in the relationship between Italy and the Stellantis concern.
Hyundai has previously produced a special modification of the Sonata sedan for taxis, but now a new version has been presented in South Korea. Sedan offered to Korean taxi drivers Hyundai Sonata Taxi made in China with a wheelbase increased by 70 mm. It has a 2.0 LPG gas engine, a six-speed automatic transmission, wear-resistant seat upholstery, and an unusual roof add-on. Not only displays are built into it, but also adaptive illumination of the area around the car. For taxi companies, such a sedan will cost $16,300.
At the presentation of the pre-production iCar V23 crossover held today, Chery showed another unusual car. Monovolume iCar X25 So far it’s just a pure concept car that doesn’t even have an interior. No dimensions or technical specifications have been published yet. It is only clear that this little one is conceived as an electric car, and the third model of the iCar brand can be designed in a similar design key.
AVTOVAZ excluded the basic one from its corporate price lists Lauda Vesta with an eight-valve 1.6 engine (90 hp). The actual production of such machines was discontinued several months ago. The very appearance of such a modification last year was dictated by a shortage of components for the production of sixteen-valve engines. Now prices for Vesta formally start at 1 million 240 thousand rubles, but this is for last year’s sedan, and even taking into account the discount for trade-in and credit. The 2024 Comfort version already costs 1 million 514 thousand rubles.
Agency Autostat published the March sales statistics new passenger cars on European markets. The UK took the lead (317,786) thanks to a 10.4% increase in demand. Germany dropped to second place with a result of 263,844 vehicles, showing a drop of 6.2%. Next come France (180,024) and Italy (162,083), and Russia is in fifth place in Europe with a result of 146,526 cars sold.
Also today we talked about the Subaru Forester crossover, the Genesis X Gran Berlinetta supercar and the BAIC U5 Plus gas sedan.
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