Red light for VW Santanas in 2012?

The days of the hallowed Volkswagen Santana, long the automobile of choice for basically all Shanghai taxi companies, may soon be screeching to a full stop.

According to Trading Markets, the joint venture making Santanas will be suspending production in 2012. That'll give it a whopping 29 years dominating Shanghai's streets.

In 1983, the first Santana rolled off the production line in Shanghai. Till now, its sales has reached 3.21 million vehicles.

From January to April 2009, SVW sold 56,012 Santanas, including 16,765 units in April alone, citing the data by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), indicating that the market still has a strong demand for the car model.

So what's going to take its place? Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Co. (the JV) said it'll be pushing the newer Lavida model, hoping to recreate the whopping success it had with the Santana in China's burgeoning auto market.

Photo by Oliver Laumann

(Thanks to Auto Blog for the link)