Volkswagen Passat Pulled From Sale but Five-Door Sibling Lives On

Volkswagen has stopped production of the Passat saloon and justifies the decision with the better sales figures of the estate and the appearance of the Arteon Fastback.

The four-door competitor to the Ford Mondeo can no longer be ordered, and a spokesman confirmed that production had ceased shortly before Christmas.

The B8 generation Passat has been on sale since 2014 and will not be entirely replaced until 2023. Then the ninth generation is to be launched with an updated version of the MQB architecture and emphasis on practicality.

But a few months before the model is due to be phased out, Volkswagen has decided to streamline the model range and sell only the estate.

Autos Community understands that the roomier car has out-sold the saloon by a ratio of 2:1, at least since the Passat’s facelift in 2019.

Volkswagen has sold the Passat as a saloon and estate since its launch in 1973.

Data available to Autos Community show Volkswagen sold 3503 Passats in the UK in the 11 months to December last year, primarily to fleet customers, but a detailed breakdown of the volume of variants was not available.

Another factor in the saloon’s early demise is the existence of the similarly positioned Arteon, which offers comparable space and a similar engine range to the closely related Passat, albeit at a considerable premium.

However, it is worth noting that the Arteon Shooting Brake continues to be offered alongside the Passat Estate, with prices starting at £38,230, while the Passat is priced at £31,240.

The company has not yet given a date for the discontinuation of the estate, but news of the saloon’s discontinuation comes at a time when the development of the new ‘Aero-B’, which will essentially be the all-electric equivalent of the Passat, is underway.

This newcomer, which will be based on the same MEB platform as the Volkswagen ID 3 and ID 4, will offer a choice of rear- and all-wheel drive, a choice of battery sizes and, crucially, the option of the saloon and estate variants.

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