This is the VW Santana. The Santana has been the best selling sedan in China for years with sales of almost four million units. It is still in production after so many years and VW China has decided to give it a full redesign for 2013. The rear seats offer more knee room due to its intelligent space concept and 2,603 mm wheelbase. The car has a spacious boot with 480 litres of cargo capacity. Volkswagen had focused on safety, comfort and a sophisticated look when it developed the new model. It has the following features: ABS, front, side and head airbags, ESC electronic stabilisation programme, air conditioning or automatic climate control, electric sliding sunroof, alloy wheels, parking sensors and leather upholstery.
For the Chinese market, the Santana will be offered in the Trendline, Comfortline and Highline versions. The Santana is equipped only with naturally-aspirated four-cylinder engines of the recently developed EA 211 petrol engine series. What makes these innovative aluminium engines stand out is its high efficiency.
The engines use 16-valve technology and the exhaust manifold is integrated in the cylinder head. The 1.4-litre version delivers 66 kW / 90 PS and has a combined fuel consumption of only 5.9 l/100 km. Meanwhile, the 1.6-litre has 81 kW / 110 PS and fuel consumption of 6.0 l/100 km. The new model boasts a 28% improvement in fuel economy and CO2 emissions over the previous model. The new Santana just had its global debut during a premiere celebration at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, which is where the first Santana was developed.
