Volkswagen To Unveil China Created CC
Volkswagen’s Chinese joint venture with FAW will announce a China-made Volkswagen CC next month. Two notable items: The launch ceremony will be on July 15 in Shanghai, right in front of the nose of Volkswagen’s other joint venture partner, SAIC. And the car will cost the princely sum of 320,000 yuan ($47,000) in China, if Gasgoo is correctly informed. That’s what a well appointed Audi A4L goes for. Volkswagen had been showing the car at Chinese auto shows for a while, whetting the appetite for a China created CC.
CC stands for “Comfort Coupe.” In Europe, the car is sold as a “Passat CC” – an ueber-Passat. In the US. the car was simply launched as a “CC.” Nowhere makes the Passat-less moniker more sense than in China.
The Passat is built by Volkswagen’s other joint venture partner, SAIC. After the new generation of the Passat (internally called B6) came out in 2005, Volkswagen wanted their JV with SAIC to change over also. Shanghai’s SVW said “bu yao” (no want) to the B6 and stuck with the B5 as the underpinnings of the Chinese Passat. Still do.
Wolfsburg sold their B6 platform to their northern joint venture with FAW. As “Passat” was taken, they had to come up with another name: Magotan. The CC is based on the B6 platform. And FAW-VW doesn’t have to come up with a new name.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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