When you think that the original ‘Beetle’ has a history in excess of 60 years, it comes as no surprise that VW is celebrating no less than 45 years of its Passat model. Unlike Ford Motor Company, which introduces a new model line-up and often renames it simultaneously (…Cortina, to Sierra, to Mondeo…), the Passat spans that same period, even though the car has been improved immeasurably on-going.
In a display of marked arrogance and ‘force majeure’, even mighty Ford was forced to bow to a model-naming exercise carried out by miniscule, specialist carmaker, Dutton. While the Cortina name was still prevalent, Ivan Dutton named his new fibreglass kit car as Sierra. A couple of years later, Ford introduced its Sierra and sued Dutton, who reciprocated with an equally strident, ‘David vs. Goliath’ counter-suit. Dutton won millions!
Porsche, the German sportscar manufacturer, was forced into changing the model nomenclature of its all-new 901 model of the early 1960s by Peugeot. The French carmaker had taken out a lengthy patent on ALL model numbers with a zero in the middle. Fortunately, the renamed 911 has survived up to date, none the worse for the copyright infringement. Yet, I can recall being on the Volvo stand at the Earls Court Motor Show, when the company unveiled its all-new S4 and V4 models, only to be served with a writ by Audi. ALL promotional materials were removed embarrassingly from the stand and Volvo was forced to call its new cars S40 and V40 thereafter.
For 45 years, the Passat has been on sale. Launched originally in 1973, it is now sold on every continent. Volkswagen has built more than 29m Passat vehicles in eight generations thus far but 2019 will see the start of an evolutionary stage of the most successful mid-size car ever, as the Passat becomes the first in its segment to break through the 30m barrier.
Passat has grown from its earliest 4.190m to a length of up to 4.887m. An all-rounder tailored to the needs of families and business users, it has spawned independent versions and derivative models in Europe, China and the USA, to form one of the most important Volkswagen product pillars.
To celebrate its 45th anniversary, the Passat will be offered as a saloon and estate car but both body-styles will also include plug-in hybrid drive, to turn Passat into an electrically-powered, zero-emission vehicle for urban driving. In the final throes of development, at the company’s Emden factory, in northern Germany, the countdown to the exciting new Passat starts at the end of January 2019.
New Passat will innovate with new driving, lighting, assist and infotainment technologies, as well as heightened levels of online services. Its first target is to break the 30m sales barrier…after the Golf (35m) and the Beetle (21.5m), this makes the Passat one of the three most successful models in the history of Volkswagen.
