This China-only sedan appears to be a bit of a mish mash
It is a well-known fact that the Chinese car market is massive. Although sales have been declining for the past few years, it remains the world’s largest automotive market, both in terms of demand and supply. It is therefore no surprise that foreign brands have been setting up their operations there through joint ventures with local partners.
One of the brands is Volkswagen, which has three joint ventures in China, namely SAIC Volkswagen, FAW-Volkswagen and JAC Volkswagen, which was renamed to Volkswagen Anhui last year. Subsequently, these JVs spawn some nameplates that you will not see anywhere else in the world, such as the Lamando.
Manufactured by SAIC Volkswagen, the Lamando is a compact sedan designed as a low-slung version of the Sagitar, which is known as the Jetta outside China. In other words, it is to the Sagitar as the Arteon (or Passat CC) is to the Passat. The Lamando has been sold since 2014 and for 2022, it is getting a makeover that looks rather interesting, to put it nicely.
The images revealed by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) show a huge departure from the plain-looking outgoing version. At the front, the Lamando gets a Volkswagen ID.4-esque headlights and grille configuration, which in our books, looks alright. That being said, the gaping lower grille gives the car an unsettling face akin to an evil clown.
It doesn’t get any better when you view it from the back, where darkened full-width taillights are clearly a blatant copy of those of the Peugeot 508. We don’t know if the designers completely ran out of ideas but we reckon it would’ve been better if they adopted the ID.4’s taillights instead.
As for the dimensions, the Lamando is 4,784 mm long, 1,831 mm wide and 1,469 mm tall, and has a wheelbase of 2,731 mm. It appears that it will be available in at least two different variants, including one with a studded grille a la Mercedes-Benz and chrome exhaust finishers, as well as five different wheel designs. Power is expected to come from the same 1.4-litre TSI mill.
