Some cars leave a paper trail; the Volkswagen Passat left a name, a year — 1973 — and a place in Volkswagen's list. What follows is what can be said with a source behind it.
The story
The Volkswagen Passat is a nameplate of large family cars (D-segment) manufactured and marketed by the German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen since 1973 and also marketed variously as the Dasher, Santana, Quantum, Magotan, Corsar and Carat — in saloon, estate, and hatchback body styles. With sales of 34 million units worldwide, the Passat is the fourth best-selling automobile of all time. A "four-door coupé" variant of the Passat with a lower roof was released in the North American market in 2008 as the Passat CC, which was then renamed to Volkswagen CC. The CC was succeeded by the Arteon in 2017. In January 2011, Volkswagen introduced a separate Passat model line, internally designated "Volkswagen New Midsize Sedan" or NMS, that was manufactured in the US at the Chattanooga assembly plant and in China at Nanjing by SAIC-Volkswagen.
Developed to increase Volkswagen sales in North America, the Passat NMS is larger and costs less to produce, and is sold in North America, South Korea, China, and the Middle East. The separate B8 Passat model entered production, based on the MQB platform. In 2019, the Passat NMS programme was split into two as the North American one continued being produced on an older platform while the Chinese Passat moved on to the MQB platform, which resulted in Volkswagen marketing three models under the Passat nameplate globally at that time. The North American Passat was discontinued after the 2022 model year. Volkswagen ended the production of the saloon Passat for the European market in 2022. The B9 Passat, released in 2023, is only available in an e
Under the skin
The record carries the layout. The engine, output and weight have not yet reached the open record, and MotorJury does not guess at them.
Its place in the line
In the Volkswagen line-up the Volkswagen Passat has a clear place: it replaced the Volkswagen Type 4 / Volkswagen Type 3 / Volkswagen K70; it handed the line to the Volkswagen ID.7 (saloon). The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Lancia Stratos, the Mitsubishi Lancer, the Jeep Cherokee. Nearby in the Volkswagen catalogue sit the Volkswagen Apollo and the Volkswagen Routan.
Owning one today
Buying one now means $8,100–$27,800 for a typical example, and running it — fuel and maintenance at its age — costs about $2,979–$7,377 a year. Insurance sits around $1,090–$2,150 a year. The figures are class-level estimates from the federal record, with the formula on the methodology page; the model-year pages carry complaints, recalls and repair costs year by year.