Volkswagen is hoping that giving the Passat a revised interior and nose and tail facelifts will halt a worrying slide in sales for the upmarket saloon and estate.
Scooped here during final pre-production testing, the revised Passat will be launched at September's Paris motor show. UK sales kick off in January.
See the revised VW Passat spy pictures
According to well placed sources, the Passat is due to a get a welcome lift in interior quality thanks to the introduction of dashboard features from the sportier Passat CC.
That features a more upmarket instrument pack, a redesigned centre console with a clearer sat-nav touch screen, and a sportier steering wheel with spoke-mounted controls.
Exterior changes will bring the Passat in line with the new VW family look, already seen on the Polo and Golf. That means a wide lower air intake, a narrow, full-width upper grille and new headlights.
Expect new tail-lights and trim revisions to lift the rear-end look.
Engines and gearboxes are expected to carry over largely unchanged from today's Passat, which features three petrol engines and four diesels.
The petrols are tipped to be the 1.4 TSI and 1.8 TSI, the turbodiesels will be 1.6 and 2.0 TDIs, and the 3.6-litre V6 R36 is expected to be dropped from the line-up.
Just three years ago Volkswagen UK shifted 37,000 Passat saloons and estates in a full year. In 2008 that dropped to 30,000; last year just 21,000 were sold.
Join the debate
Add your comment
Re: Next VW Passat 'to boost sales'
I agree the Passat's in desperate need of some TLC. It was bland before it's launch and just became like your nan's offensively dated wallpaper very quickly after it's launch. No prizes for guessing what the facelift will comprise of either... no bad thing really, but the Passat needs a good dose of desirability powder and I don't think a revision will do it.
Re: Next VW Passat 'to boost sales'
yes, which you started. again.
i believe your view is more a result of the fact you're so obsessed with VW that anyone not showing the same levels of devotion must clearly be a `hater`. almost certainly there's a syndrome describing this pattern of behaviour - curable by removal of keyboard.
your devotion aside, the Golf is a fantastic car and Ford's crackers price list makes it look all the more desirable. my money's on it being the #1 most popular choice here for a few months straight before the year is out simply because even lesser Fords like the Fiesta seems such bad value compared.
Re: Next VW Passat 'to boost sales'
- this is a pointless squabble. I tend to the view of 'J400uk', but the point is, the Golf VI(5.5), whatever you want to call it, is adjudged by most eveyone as head and shoulders best-in-class; is a sales success, even more so than the Golf V; is apprently cheaper in production cost terms for VW, through clever production engineering; so everyone's a winner.
In Britain the Golf is the fifth best selling car, and in April was only a few hundred units short of overtaking the Focus and new Astra for second place, both of which presumably make a large proportion of their sales from fleet/business deals, where discounts are typically up to 40%, whereas the Golf will be predominantly private sales/user-chooser company cars, meaning more revenue for VW. Ford's sales by the way were down nearly a fifth in April across Europe, which may indicate that VW's Golf is clearly the market leader, with the new Polo making up ground on the fast-selling Fiesta, after early supply constraints. The Golf actually increased sales in Germany by nearly a quarter in April, against a total market that declined by 23%. I would guess most of these buyers are unaware or don't care that the Golf is a 'facelift'/'new-model' but rather see an excellent car at prices which are now often lower than its supposed competition - the Focus, Astra and co.
With the next Golf(the VIIth) only 18 months away and the updated Passat this year VW is maintaning its roll and making life for the competiton, like recently successful Ford, hellish. Suck it up, VW haters.