Volkswagen Passat
VW Passat is the name of a car model of the middle class of the Volkswagen brand of vehicle business of the same.
Model history
The original version ( B1) from the fall of 1972 presented Audi 80 derived and presented in the spring of 1973 as a hatchback. The vehicle differs with water-cooled engines and front wheel drive fundamentally from the previous (VW 1500/1600 ) with air-cooled engines and rear wheel drive. In early 1974 pushed a VW Variant station wagon version called the Passat after.
With the until now seven generations of the Passat wagon has grown steadily, the current Passat (B7 ) is 4.77 meters long and 1.82 meters wide, much larger than the first model (length 4.20 m, width 1.60 meters). By April 2007, fifteen million copies of the VW Passat, VW Dasher and type related VW Santana were built. Thus, the Passat is on place nine of the most commonly built cars in the world.
Mid-2008 was brought to the market with the Passat CC a four-door " coupe " version.
Are currently offered the sedan with a notchback and the Variant station wagon version, the latter being much more in demand (sales share over 70%). 2004 VW Passat in Germany was the most widely used enterprise and service vehicle. 86.1 % of all new registrations in Germany were commercial in 2011. 2006 were registered a total of 124 611 vehicles.
At the Detroit Motor Show 2011 was announced more separate version for the U.S. market January.
Special
For the Passat, the installation direction of the motor was changed repeatedly. Until B2 series he had longitudinally mounted engines, so that in the B2 known from the Audi 80/90-Reihe ( Type 81 /85), were eligible for longitudinal installation designed in-line five -cylinder used. With the series B3/B4 the transition was carried out on transverse engines; as the top engine intended for transverse mounting six-cylinder VR engine was developed. With the model change on the series B5 was again moving over to longitudinal mounting, so that the Audi V6 engine could be accommodated. Also a W8 variant, an eight-cylinder engine was available. When changing to the series B6 again was a change for transverse installation, which is why now the current six-cylinder VR engine is the top engine.
Name
Originally, the Passat was created as EA ( development contract ) 400 and should be used as the "Type 511" in the trade. During discussions at the VW plant the idea came up to names instead of numbers, which made all thoughts of type numbers there unnecessary. The name of the model in the EU is taken from the easterly trade winds, which are at the equator because of their resistance since Columbus and the early modern period of significance for maritime and air traffic. With the model name Scirocco, Jetta, Santana and Volkswagen Bora repeated this kind of naming.
Manufacturing operations
From 1974 to 1977 the Passat in the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg was built. Since 1977, the Passat in Germany is being built at the VW plant in Emden. Likewise, there is produced since model introduction of the VW Passat CC and VW CC.
The series at a glance
Passat B1 (Type 32A) 1977-1980
Passat B2 (type 32B) 1980-1985
Passat B2 (type 32B) 1985-1988
Passat B3 (Typ 35i ) 1988-1993
Passat B4 (type 3A) 1993-1997
Passat B5 (type 3B) 1996-2000
Passat B5 GP ( 3BG type ) 2000-2005
Passat B6 ( Typ 3C ) 2005-2010
Passat CC (type 3C/35 ) since 2008
Passat B7 (Type 3C/36 ) since 2010
VW Passat (NMS ) since 2011
Passat B8 2014