The new VW Passat certainly looks smart. It’s got superior tech and will be an even better company car proposition. As it uses the same engines and architecture as the latest Volkswagen Golf we can also assume that it will be far better to drive than the outgoing car.

The question is how many of us will actually yearn to own one? 

Fact is that this sector of the market is in the doldrums in the UK. Mondeo Man is now running around in a car from the class below, an SUV, or something else entirely. In fact, I was shocked to discover that both the Golf or the Ford Focus outsell the ‘Passat’ class on their own. So a Focus outsells the Passat, Mazda 6, Ford Mondeo, Insignia, Peugeot 508 and the rest combined. 

Mind you, the ‘mid-sized sedan’ is still a staple of US sales where hundreds of thousands of them are sold and where the domestic makers, Japanese and Koreans dominate the market. Of course, VW also makes and sells its own US-flavoured Passat there. 

China too is a huge saloon market and is now the prime destination for this Passat where it will also go under the guise of the VW Magotan.

So cars like the new Passat do have a bright future, even if it’s not here.