The car above is the Volkswagen Lavida, a Chinese domestic market model that has been developed and set to be sold only in the China market as it was developed for domestic tastes. I’m not sure how the name was chosen, but it could be taken from the Spanish phrase La Vida which means “the life”, as Ricky Martin has propagated.
It is built on the Volkswagen PQ34 platform with an increased wheelbase of 2,610mm, the base platform for the Mk4 Volkswagen Golf and Mk1 Skoda Octavia. This puts it in the region of a C-segment sedan in terms of wheelbase, with the Lavida having a wheelbase 10mm longer than the current Toyota Corolla Altis. Under the hood is a choice of engines from 1.6 litres to 2.0 litres.
You will find that various press around the internet has called the car an A-segment sedan, but Chinese model size segmentation is different from the rest of the world, with even the big Volkswagen Passat classified as a B+ sedan.
Other dimensions include a length of 4608mm, a width of 1743mm and a height of 1465mm. The car weighs 1245kg for the 1.6 litre and 1323kg for the 2.0 litre.
After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.
Looks like an Optra magnum with VW’s grille.
Doesn’t look European to me. Developed for domestic taste? Nah, Its much more on cost-savings which translates into cheaper price to the consumers.
Looks more Peugeot to me.
VW may want to try selling this over here too, maybe bring in a few units to test the water. Pricing it around rm100-110k for the 2.0l may entice some buyers. Don’t think its possible though, considering its imported.
Remember Julio Iglesias’s song? Godza Lavida, nice song, but don’t know the car is nice or not lah…
why is it so ugly? Domestically produced Chinese cars are ugly, is it trying to be ugly among uglies???
a decent looking car.
The name Lavida is ok lah but should have gone with the name Libido. Hahahaha. The all-new Volkswagen Libido, you’ll want it.
wow…whoe…OOOOooooooooooOOOoOoo…a toyota lookin VW…tats a 1st to me..so it is true..Continental goin Jap..Jap goin Continental..
no interior pic?… yeah looks, styling these days can only be summarized to 2 things – either “conservative” or the other! look like the VW prefer conservative styling.. but I rather see the total package before deciding whether a car worth or not to buy..
looks really Asian
it looks humble
Very Toyota like. The older Toyotas.
Put a Toyota badge on th grill at first glance I would have thought it was the previous Altis.
OK laa for China market..If sold here the price will go sky high..
Lavida? doesn’t sound chinese at all. In China, this car is call Dazhong (citizen) and cost around 150,000 yuan, not sure in ringgit though…
Wow, that’s just like a the older Altis with an VW grille, I guess the chinese must like “jap-looking” cars!
the dzine didnt look like vw…lavida loca…song frm ricky martin
the lower front bumper and fog lamps remind me of waja.
it looks cheap for a VW…
Maybe VW can design one car specifically for Malaysians. But of course no sane person will do that.
how much will it cost?
At 1st glance, it looks like last Toyota Altis…
**out of topic for a moment… check this out.. china’s new car, changfeng qi ling cp1a has gen2 side profile… cool huh?
http://bp0.blogger.com/_FoXyvaPSnVk/SAdf7vPV24I/AAAAAAAApZk/_Gz91BxkiyI/s1600-h/CH3.jpg
http://bp3.blogger.com/_FoXyvaPSnVk/SAdf7fPV23I/AAAAAAAApZc/UwmZmqtuZcA/s1600-h/CH2.jpg
xg9 said,
April 17, 2008 @ 11:31 pm
**out of topic for a moment… check this out.. china’s new car, changfeng qi ling cp1a has gen2 side profile… cool huh?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
now they are copying proton ~_~
knight_templar said,
April 17, 2008 @ 9:51 am
why is it so ugly? Domestically produced Chinese cars are ugly, is it trying to be ugly among uglies???
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i think they are trying to mimic the look of mainlanders. i can almost hear them saying: “oh yea! this car….IS me…”
‘Lavida’ ???? Were they running out of option?