The changes that await the Volkswagen Passat from 2023 will be profound. It will eliminate a body option and the diesel engines could disappear.
The Volkswagen Passat was originally introduced to the market in 1973 and has been in business non-stop for nearly five decades. For this, it has needed a total of eight generations that take us to the current Passat B8. However, the changes that await the Volkswagen Passat from 2023 will be profound, a major restructuring of the range hastened by the arrival of crossovers and SUVs.
The European Passat based on the MQB platform has been active since 2014 and, after seven years on the market, it is expected that the company will start working on what will be its generational replacement. Volkswagen confirmed long ago that there would be a ninth generation of the Passat and now we have learned, thanks to a report published by Auto Express, that it will come with important changes, such as a plug-in hybrid variant with 100 kilometers of autonomy.
The changes that await the Volkswagen Passat from 2023
The most important change that will affect the Passat from 2023 is that the four-door sedan body will disappear from the offer. The Passat B9 will be available only with a family Variant body, although the report suggests that it could be transformed into a liftback in the same line as the Volkswagen Arteon, a model that is expected to be withdrawn from the market after only one generation.
The new 2023 Passat is believed to offer a longer wheelbase than the current model. The idea behind this increase is to increase legroom and boot space. It will continue to be based on the MQB platform and be available with a 2.0-liter diesel engine offering 4Motion all-wheel drive on top-of-the-range versions. At the moment it is unknown if it will be offered in a gasoline version or just as a plug-in hybrid. For the time being, there will be no electric Passat, as the company has reserved this role for the production version of the Volkswagen ID. Space Vision.
Volkswagen has already confirmed that the new Passat will arrive in 2023 and will be assembled at the plant in Bratislava, Slovakia, rather than at the factory in Emden, Germany, where the current model is produced. It will be built alongside the upcoming Skoda Superb, which would explain the alleged decision to drop the Passat sedan from the offering, thus reducing competition between the two models.
