Gasgoo.com (Shanghai November 4) - As the Volkswagen Sagitar recall controversy continues to stir in China, dealerships in the country have announced that they have long been out of stock of the cars. A representative from a Beijing-based FAW-VW 4S dealership stated in an interview with the Beijing News that "the Sagitars in question have already been out of stock, with our inventories being empty since April." Following the news of problems with the cars' suspension, VW dealerships across the country started slashing vehicle prices.
Soon after receiving complaints regarding the non-independent torsion beam suspensions used in the Sagitar (pictured), FAW-VW started outfitting new models with independent multi-link suspensions in May. As such, the recall only targets cars produced before May.
In order to help maintain sales, dealerships released several sales promotions reaching as high as 30,000 RMB ($4,883) in order to liquidate inventories. Sagitars bought using cash were eligible for savings up to 15,000 RMB ($2,442). Many dealerships have reported that their inventories are already cleared.
According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the Sagitar initially climbed up the Chinese passenger automobile sales charts from being the eighth top selling vehicles in January to the second best selling one in February. However, following the recall controversy, the Sagitar fell back to fourth place in the September and October sales charts.
FAW-VW sold a total of 150,300 vehicles in August, representing year-on-year growth of 14.2 percent, leading competitors Shanghai GM and Shanghai VW. However, it was surpassed by Shanghai GM the following month.
