Volkswagen eighth-gen Passat – the best ever?

Volkswagen is expected to launch the eighth generation Passat before the end of this year in Europe. The German carmaker claims this is the best Passat ever built and it all begins with the weight as the car is now 85kg lighter than the outgoing model. The car is available for order in Germany and on paper it does look like it might turn out to be the best car in its segment too.

The weight saving for the Passat is a result of the innovative lightweight design. It gets six engines in different states of tune, and the engine options go up to 10. The petrol engines come in a wide range of power output, from 123bhp to 276bhp. The diesels start at 118bhp and go up to 236bhp. Volkswagen claims the fuel consumption levels have reduced by 20 per cent; the new car gets regenerative braking and a start-stop system as standard across variants.

There is no variant inclusion or deletion as the new Passat will be available in the same trim levels - Trendline, Comfortline and Highline. Even the base variant gets LED lights at the rear, keyless engine start and stop, automatic post-collision braking, a tyre pressure indicator and more. The Comfortline gets all that and front assist including City Emergency Braking, and the top-spec variant gets LED headlamps and Alcantara leather trim.

While its Czech cousin, the Skoda Superb continues to sell in good numbers, the Passat didn’t do well in India. The Passat sells about 1.1 million units a year globally and if that number is anything to go by, it seems like the new car might exceed it. In Germany, the model starts at 25,875 EUR (Rs 20.1 lakh). We might get the new model by mid-2015 about six months from its global launch.

Source: WCF