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Volkswagen has launched its first car to be entirely developed outside Germany, the Lavida saloon, at this week's Auto China motor show in Beijing, as it attempts to hold on to its dominance of the Chinese car market.
The Lavida is an entirely Chinese product - styled, engineered and built in China as part of a joint venture with SAIC and based on the PQ34 Mk4 Golf platform from 1997. It's being pitched as an executive class car - the interior features plenty of wood trim and the car comes with climate control
and electric windows. Power comes from either a 1.6 or a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine driving a six-speed automatic transmission.
VW also launched a second four-door saloon at Auto China. The New Bora is also based on the Q34 platform and uses the same running gear as the Lavida, but is aimed at families and will cost less.
It was partially developed in Germany and is being produced as another joint venture, this time with China's First Automotive Works.
Despite steadily falling market share in recent years, Volkswagen commands about 17 per cent of new car sales in China. In 2007 total sales rose to a record 780,000, making it Volkswagen's second largest market after Germany.
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