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.
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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'
It's at best a halfway house job. They have changed the panels (not that expensive) and the bits that on the Mk5 Golf were too expensive to build in order to get the costs down, as well as trying to improve the old car's lower-than-expected quality perception.
Your point about engines is irrelevant, as the Audi A3 and A6 have also had all their launch engines replaced over the years - that's a function of the Euro 5 emissions laws, nothing more.
Yes, it's more than a facelift, but calling it "a new model on the same platform" is somewhat misleading. There are dozens of models on the Golf platform from VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat, so there have been countless "new models on the same platform" over the years, nearly all of which have featured greater differentation from the original. It is a new Golf Mk5, possibly the sort of thing they should have built in the first place.