Design Review: Volkswagen Passat
By Nick Hull2015-05-09T10:20:00
With over thirteen million Passats built to date, the sixth-generation Volkswagen Passat seems set to become the benchmark family sedan for an awful lot of customers from Shanghai to Sherbrooke
Since its introduction in 1973, the Passat has been one of the cornerstones of Volkswagen’s model line-up and the latest sixth-generation model seems set to continue that success. The previous generation Passat, with its combination of high quality specification, sober styling and a spacious cabin, not only rewrote the rules for the upper-medium segment in Europe but also gave a severe wake-up call to American market rivals such as the Ford Taurus, Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. This importance of the American market gives a clue to the design direction of the new model, which takes a more emotional approach than before, with a touch more ‘bling’ to its look, more in tune with today’s taste with luxury cars.