Volkswagen: The VW Passat never wants to be middle class again

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The VW Passat never wants to be middle class again

Volkswagen: The VW Passat never wants to be middle class again-volkswagen

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This sketch is the first look at the new Passat that VW is releasing. It can be seen that the Passat is visually wider because the grill struts extend into the headlights….

Source: Volkswagen

Volkswagen: The VW Passat never wants to be middle class again-wants However, give … ">

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In addition, the silhouette looks more coupe-like because the roof is flatter. However give …

Source: Volkswagen

Volkswagen: The VW Passat never wants to be middle class again-middle

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… Design sketches like this don’t always give a realistic impression of the car. In series production, the wheels are smaller (from 17 inches) and the windows are larger.

Source: Volkswagen

Volkswagen: The VW Passat never wants to be middle class again-wants

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In 1973, the first of seven generations of the Passat came onto the market, and VW sold the car 22 million times, more often than the Beetle. In the 70s… …

Source: Volkswagen

Volkswagen: The VW Passat never wants to be middle class again-volkswagen

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… it was still common to offer mid-range cars with only two doors.

Source: Volkswagen

The car grows beyond itself, attacks Mercedes and BMW, but does not become more expensive. These are the plans for the VW Passat, which will be released in autumn. And even recognizes how the driver is doing.

NOh, don’t show it, but you can already see a lot in Wolfsburg. The new Passat, it will be the eighth generation since 1973, should leave its traditional territory and poach elsewhere. Further up, that would be good. Drivers of the Mercedes C-Class, the BMW 3 Series and – why not? – the Audi A4, which also comes from the Volkswagen group, should look at the next Passat with real interest.

Often the word “class” is used when Heinz-Jakob Neuber, Head of Development, speaks about the new Passat at the VW plant. "Value" is also such a word, "Appearance" is added and above all: "Comfort".

In order to improve this, the space utilization was optimized first. The 4.77-meter-long Passat has never been small, but it has now grown inside without adding to the outside. The occupants can look forward to a good three centimeters more legroom, and there is almost as much more air above their heads, although the car has become 14 millimeters flatter.

Sales start in October

"The 14 millimeter flatter roof is a real world, the car looks much sportier," says Neuber. Hardly anyone else can judge that yet. VW will not pull the cloth off the new Passat until July 3, the world premiere at the Paris Salon in October, after which the car will be “in front of the customer”, as VW says.

Today there are only design sketches, and such illustrations always show a distorted version of reality. Designers love big wheels and wide, flat sculptures with windows like loopholes. But if you mentally adjust these design proportions a little, then you can clearly see two things.

First, the new Passat is getting wider, at least visually. This is guaranteed by the new radiator grille, whose struts are continued in the daytime running lights of the headlights.

Second, the Passat actually becomes a little flatter at the rear, and it also looks longer (although it isn’t) because the axles move further apart.

The same platform as in golf and polo

This is due to the restructuring of the technical platform. Despite its size, the Passat is now also being built using the modular transverse matrix (MQB), which forms the construction basis for many models down to the Polo.

While the length, width and wheelbase are flexible in the MQB, the installation position of the engine is not. It is the same everywhere, no matter which engine is in which model. This makes both development and production easier and cheaper, which is why people in Wolfsburg are already saying, well before the Passat premiere, that the new car will not be more expensive than the old one. And it is available from 25,375 euros.

Of course, this information is not yet officially available, but it has also been the case with the Golf, the lead model of the MQB family: The basic version of the Golf VII was launched in autumn 2012 at the same price as the Golf VI.

We will have to wait and see whether this tendency towards the low-cost, at least in comparison to the C-Class, A4 and 3 Series, will make the difference. The number of units was never the problem of the Passat, in 2013 the group sold 1.1 million units worldwide, but perhaps it is more of the prestige.

More distance to the sister model from Skoda

That should increase through better technology and higher quality in the interior. Also because the Passat has to gain more distance from the large, but inexpensive sister model Skoda Superb.

Heinz-Jakob Neuber speaks of a further stiffened body, which has offered the chassis developers more options. "You didn’t have to work so much against the trembling of the body, you could concentrate on the suppleness."

At the same time, the Passat has become lighter, on average by 60 to 65 kilograms, in the best case it has lost 85 kilograms. That is good for handling and consumption.

Of course there will be a Passat with a plug-in hybrid engine, like the Golf GTE, it has 50 kilometers of purely electric range, but Neuss is visibly proud of a completely newly developed diesel engine. Two liters of displacement only, but a hefty 240 hp and 500 Newton meters of torque.

5.3 liters consumption at 240 hp

As if by the way, but with a bit of joy Neuss lets it be known that this is a top value in the middle class. And the standard consumption is 5.3 liters. “When you have to get from A to B quickly and don’t want to refuel so often,” says the Board of Management, and you can tell that he used to be Head of Engine Development.

He declares new assistance systems rather dutifully, although there are some interesting things to do with them. The city emergency braking function now works up to a speed of 65 and also recognizes pedestrians walking into the street. Emergency Assist slowly brings the Passat to a standstill if the driver behind the wheel has a heart attack.

Trailer Assist regulates parking with a trailer – which the Executive Board still seems to like best. “There are always a lot of people watching when you maneuver the trailer, and you don’t want to be embarrassed.” Especially not when the car is up a class.

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