Lavida car's short supply to ease by year end

Shanghai, September 17 (Gasgoo.com) The short supply of Lavida (Langyi) cars made by Shanghai Volkswagen will be eased by the end of this year, the company's sales executive Zhanghai Hailiang told National Business Daily yesterday.

In the next three months, the joint venture carmaker will not raise the selling price of its Lavida model, and its Lavida output will accelerate and increase to meet the great demand in the market by December, said Zhang.

Since its launch in late June 2008 as an all-new model for China's A-class auto market, the Lavida model made by Shanghai VW has sold about 11,500 units, with 6,365 units sold in August (up 56% month on month) and has become one of the best-selling sedans in the market. Currently, most Shanghai VW’s dealers nationwide have sold all Lavida cars out of their inventories.

Last month, the Lavida model saw its sales defying a more drastic downturn in China's auto market, and they have been in short supply these weeks. The biggest concern of Shanghai VW's sales division is how to meet the growing number of orders (for Lavida cars) from customers and dealers, rather than worrying about the general slide in the auto market.

"Our Lavida production will be still like an uphill journey in the coming four or five months, but the company will speed up the manufacturing and increase output by working overtime properly and improving the productivity," said the sales executive.