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Showing posts with label VW Passat. Show all posts

NAIAS 2013: VW's New Passat Performance Concept is Anything But That...

Monday, January 14, 2013

When you hear the words "Performance Concept", you expect to see a high-powered model with looks to match its name, yet Volkswagen's U.S.-market Passat-based study doesn't satisfy in any of these aspects.

Sure, the German brand's new EA888 1.8-liter turbocharged produces an impressive output of 247-horses (250PS) for its displacement, but these days you can get a Honda Accord V6 with 278-horsepower – and the Japanese carmaker doesn't place a performance badge on it…

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Volkswagen is injecting some sportiness to its North American market Passat with the world premiere of a performance concept at next week's Detroit auto show.

Dubbed the "Passat Performance Concept", the German carmaker says the study gives us a sneak-peek at an upcoming sport variant of its mid-size model, which in 2012, recorded its best sales year ever in the States with 117,023 units.

Monday, November 26, 2012

The most powerful production version of the Passat CC or its facelift iteration (renamed to CC) that is offered by Volkswagen, is the V6 model motivated by a 3.6-liter unit rated at 280hp in North America and 295hp (300PS) in Europe.

If you want more oomph, the only option you have is to check out at what the aftermarket industry has to offer.

One of the tuners that has come up with a power package for the Passat CC and specifically, for the range-topping VR6 4Motion (all-wheel drive) model, is Germany's MR Car Design.

Friday, November 9, 2012

It's the most popular passenger car segment in the U.S.A. with well over 1 million annual sales and four representatives in 2011's list of the 10 bestselling models overall, including the Toyota Camry that finished 3rd behind the Ford F-Series and Chevy Silverado trucks, followed by the Nissan Altima (4th overall), Ford Fusion (6th) and Honda Accord (9th).

We are talking of course about the mid-size category, which is the subject of Car & Driver's (C&D) magazine latest comparison test.

The publication took its previous winner, the North American market VW Passat (not to be confused with the Passat sold in other regions) that beat the Toyota Camry and Hyundai Sonata, and compared it against three newcomers, the 2013 versions of the Ford Fusion (to be sold in Europe as the new Mondeo), Honda Accord and Nissan Altima.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

You may recall Honda’s 2012 Civic comprehensively hammered last year by Consumer Reports. The publication's verdict was such a big blow that Honda decided to speed-up its next redesign and its CEO took responsibility for its poor performance.

One would expect its sales to slump; but instead, they have gotten through the roof. Civic deliveries have increased this year by 40 percent through September, to 234,029 units and Honda’s compact car is on course to regain the segment crown in the U.S. after finishing third last year behind the Toyota Corolla and Chevrolet Cruze.

This brings up an interesting question: how much does automotive experts’ testing weigh on buyers’ decision when the time comes to buy a new car?

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

In most markets, the lifespan of a new model is about six to eight years - give or take, with a facelift scheduled somewhere in the middle. China, on the other hand, is not your usual car market; or at least it wasn’t for quite a long time.

That’s why the Volkswagen Santana, which was based on the second generation of the Passat, code-named B2, and was launched in the Chinese market in 1982, soldiered on for three decades!

During that period, it sold nearly four million units, which made it one of the most popular cars in the country.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Over the past few weeks, we have read many reports and rumors about possible new additions to Volkswagen's range including a mid-size SUV positioned between the Tiguan and the Touareg and a compact CC sports sedan based on the next Jetta, which may or may not come to the U.S.

Now we hear that the German brand's officials are considering yet another new model to enhance Volkswagen's presence in the crossover segment based on the future Jetta SportWagen (estate).

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Only nine months after the North American Passat went on sale in the U.S., Volkswagen is celebrating its first important milestone with the production of the 100,000th car at its new $1 billion Chattanooga factory. Read more »

Volkswagen Passat TDI Travels 1,626 Miles on a Single Tank of Fuel, Sets New World Record

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

The Volkswagen brand has done it again breaking its own record for the longest distanced travelled on a single tank of fuel, this time with the U.S. built 2012 Passat TDI SE sedan equipped with a six-speed manual gearbox.

John and Helen Taylor managed to drive the diesel-powered Passat for an impressive 1626.1 miles (2,617 kilometers) through nine states on one tank of fuel improving the previous record held by a VW Passat 1.6 BlueMotion diesel (1526.6 miles) in Europe by 99.5 miles (160.1 kilometers).

Monday, May 7, 2012

At some point or another, most German automakers have advertised the fact that their vehicles' doors close with a solid "thump" as a sign of quality engineering – which through the years may or may not be accompanied by numerous other sounds such as falling windows, but that is another story.

Volkswagen is the latest company to promote this aspect through a humorous commercial for its Jetta compact sedan in the States.

The German carmaker also released a separate ad to highlight the U.S.-made 2012 Passat's safety ratings from the IIHS, called 'Crash' featuring a young man who just smashed his father's car. You can watch both ads in the videos after the break.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Alongside the thoroughbred "R" models, Volkswagen also offers an independent trim level called "R-Line" that is all show but no go. The latest model series to get the R-Line treatment is the European market version of the facelifted Passat.

The R-line versions of the Passat sedan and Estate are positioned between the mid-level ‘Comfortline’ and the top ‘Highline’ versions.

Monday, April 30, 2012

Volkswagen continues to solicit ideas and views from the American public about the European Passat-based Alltrack concept it exhibited at this month's 2012 New York Auto Show.

This time, the German brand has released a new video with Serban Boldea, Product Manager for Volkswagen, walking around the Alltrack and asking viewers to tell the company what they would like to see on the tall estate model if it were to be offered in the United States.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) announced on its website that Volkswagen is recalling two models for different reasons in the United States.

More specifically, the Germany automaker is recalling 153 diesel-powered 2012 Passat sedans built from January 18, 2011, through June 1, 2011, because the diesel fuel filter element may not have been sealed correctly.

Monday, April 2, 2012

What we came to know as the Passat Alltrack last year when Volkswagen revealed the high-riding estate at the Tokyo Motor Show before launching it in Europe this past February, will be displayed as the Alltrack Concept at this week's New York Auto Show.

The Alltrack is based on the facelifted version of the European market Passat Estate, and not the North American model built at VW's manufacturing facility in Chattanooga.

The German firm makes it pretty clear that the Alltrack is just a showcar for now to gauge market reaction to a potential future model similar in size that "combines offroad ability with wagon versatility".

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Business is going good for Volkswagen and its new Tennessee manufacturing facility, which builds the North American Passat. The company today announced that it would be adding 800 new jobs at the factory to meet rising customer demand for the mid-size sedan model.

This latest move comes on top of a previous announcement this year of 200 additional jobs at the Chattanooga plant, bringing the total new jobs in 2012 to 1,000 and the total workforce to 3,500 by year-end.

Friday, March 16, 2012

The new Volkswagen Passat Alltrack is now available for order in Britain with the first cars arriving in dealer lots on May 28. The high-riding, crossover version of the Passat Estate is offered in one trim level and a choice of two diesel engines, both of which are equipped with VW's 4MOTION four-wheel drive system as standard.

The base model is powered by a 2.0-liter TDI producing 138bhp (140PS) linked to a 6-speed manual gearbox and is priced at £28,475. It returns a combined fuel economy of 49.6mpg UK (41.3mpg US or 5.7lt/100km) with CO2 emissions of 150g/km.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Zero emission vehicles are as "green" as you can get, but fuel cells are still a long way from mass production and EVs' limited range and high prices are a deterrent for a large percentage of new car buyers. Hybrids, while more affordable, still command a higher price than regular models.

And here's where UK-based Controlled Power Technologies (CPT) and U.S. Advanced Lead-Acid Battery Consortium (ALABC) come into the picture.

The two companies have teamed up to develop the LC Super Hybrid, which is a new technology that promises to lower a gasoline engine’s consumption to levels comparable to a diesel, but at a much lower cost that a traditional hybrid.

Monday, February 20, 2012

First seen at last year's Tokyo Auto Show, the new VW Passat Alltrack is now available for order in select markets around Europe.

We revisit it today because the German automaker has seen fit to afford us with a new crop of images that show the high-ridding estate model in a different light.

The Audi A4 Allroad's more economical cousin gets all the usual bells and whistles expected from an estate model turned into a soft-roader.

Volkswagen is taking platform sharing to the next level with its brand-new Modular Transverse Matrix (MQB) vehicle architecture that is flexible enough to be used in some 60 different models ranging in size from the VW Polo and Seat Ibiza to the next generations of the Audi TT sports car and the VW Passat.

We'll have the chance to see the first application of the MQB platform with the new Audi A3 hatch at next month's Geneva Auto Salon followed by the Mk7 VW Golf at the Paris Motor Show in September.

As evidenced by these spy photos, the German automaker has also began developing the MQB platform for the next iteration of the global Volkswagen Passat codenamed B8 (not to be confused with the North American market model) that is due in 2014.

The vehicle seen in these pictures is a test mule, meaning that VW's engineers have placed the body of a current Passat Estate on top of the new MQB platform, which features wider front and rear tracks.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

On the occasion of the European press launch of the facelifted CC in Southern France this week, Volkswagen released a fresh batch of pictures and videos of its mid-size model.

The CC, which made its world premiere at the Los Angeles Auto Show last November, will first go on sale in Germany and Luxembourg in the beginning of February, followed by the rest of Europe at the end of the same month, and then globally, including America, Russia and Asia in spring 2012.