CARS OF THE WORLD

Volkswagen Passat Limited Edition 2022.

Volkswagen Passat Limited Edition 2022. Volkswagen Passat says goodbye to one of the largest markets for a limited-edition special edition.

The release of the sedan has been phased out in the United States; later, an electric SUV will take its place on the conveyor.

At parting, a special «four-door» was announced, which distinguished itself by its equipment and decoration.

The fact that Volkswagen is going to abandon the Passat in the States, they started talking back in 2020, and now the local division of the brand announced officially: the current 2022 model year will be the last for the model, that is, its production in the American city of Chattanooga (Tennessee) is about is about to end.

Together with the release, the history of the Passat in the USA will end — the concern will not switch to imports.

Meanwhile, the first six generations were supplied to this country from Europe, and the car itself became the Passat there only in the third generation — in 1990: the first generation model in the States was called Dasher (started in 1974), and the «second» is a Volkswagen on the American the market bore the name Quantum (debuted in 1982).

Production in Chattanooga began in 2011, and a completely different sedan appeared on the conveyor of the American enterprise, not the same as the then European Passat: the «four-door» with the factory index NMS (New Midsize Sedan) was developed specifically for the local public, it is larger and more spacious than the «old-world »Models.

Later, a similar sedan began to be produced in China.

In 2018, the «celestial» model changed a generation, having moved from the PQ46 platform to the MQB, and a year later the American Passat was also modernized, but, curiously, the US version retained the old «cart», while adopting the «Chinese» design.

The four-door NMS never won any success in the USA: according to CarSalesBase statistics, 2012 was the best year for the model there, when just over 117,000 units were sold.

For example, Toyota Camry and Honda Accord in the same year acquired almost 405,000 and 332,000 owners, respectively.

The result of the Passat in 2020 is only 22,964 copies.

You can, of course, refer not only to the shift in demand towards SUVs, but also to quarantine, but, for example, the same Toyota Camry last year in the States sold 294,348 copies, the choice on the Honda Accord was stopped by 199,458 customers, Nissan dealers sold 137,988 Altima sedans.

Be that as it may, but the Passat does not leave silently: a “farewell” special version with the unpretentious name of Limited Edition has been released.

In total, 1973 such cars will be made — in honor of the year of the appearance of the very first European VW Passat.

The cars of the special series are presented in four “unique color combinations” (meaning the color of the body and the color of the interior trim), the number of each batch of those same “combinations” pays homage to “this or that aspect of the past” of the model.

So, the circulation of red sedans with an interior Titan Black has 411 copies — this number refers to the production code of the first original Passat.

Cars in green with a Mauro Brown interior will be released in the amount of 423 units (this is the region code of Chattanooga, Tennessee), white (with a similar interior) — 524 units (the date of the opening of the plant in Chattanooga, that is, 5.24 or May 24 in our opinion).

Finally, 615 «four-doors» will be painted in silver, and their interior will be made in black: according to the idea of ​​marketers, these are 6 generations of imported Passats, one generation from Chattanooga and «five decades» of sales in the USA.

Other specialties of the Limited Edition are 18-inch wheels of a special design, black exterior mirrors, commemorative labels in the cabin and a mat in the cup holders with the Chattanooga and factory diagrams.

Also in the list of equipment are LED head optics, an electric trunk drive, heated all seats, a parking assistant, an automatic headlight switching system.

The American Passat has one engine — a 2.0 TSI EA888 gasoline turbo four, which produces 176 hp. and is combined with the classic six-speed «automatic».

The price of VW Passat Limited Edition starts at $ 30,295, which is equivalent to about 2,263,000 rubles at the current exchange rate.

American-assembled sedans are also exported — for example, to the countries of the Middle East.

It is not yet known whether the Euro version will replace the Passat made in USA, or the model will disappear from more markets.

In the States, the place of the «four-door» will be taken by the ID.4 electric SUV, it will be on the conveyor next year.

In the US, the Atlas crossover is still being produced (from there it is supplied to the Russian Federation under the name Teramont) and its shortened version of the Cross Sport.

Note that in other regions VW will continue to sell Passat: in China, the «four-door» has just undergone restyling, the cross-wagon is about to return to Russia, and in Europe the model will soon change its generation.