Volkswagen announced that its American Passat has officially stopped production in December 2021. The completion of 10 years of assembly at the Chattanooga plant in Tennessee also brought the Passat series into history 48 years after it landed in the United States. Chattanooga's last off-the-production line, the 2022 Limited Edition. With the end of the Passat lineup, the Chattanooga plant will shift its focus to electric vehicles and will begin production of the U.S.-defined ID.4 SUV this year.
In the United States, more than 1.8 million Passats have been sold since 1974. The first-generation American Passat was launched in 1974 under the Dasher name and sold more than 222,000 units; the second-generation model was renamed the Quantum. The Passat name, which originated in Europe, did not first appear in the United States until 1990 and remains so to this day.
The first 6 generations of American Passat models were imported from Europe until 2011, when Volkswagen selected the Chattanooga plant to start producing a Passat with exclusive North American specifications. Following the Volkswagen PQ platform, the U.S.-spec Passat body is larger than the European model with the MQB platform, providing ample rear seat and rear compartment space while offering more competitive prices, and then exported to Canada, South Korea and the Middle East.
The American Passat also underwent a minor overhaul in 2019 to significantly update the appearance of the vehicle, but as the sedan market was swallowed by SUVs in the United States, Passat's sales did not improve, coupled with the development policy of brand electrification, so Volkswagen decided to stop producing Passat in 2022.
Scott Keogh, President and Chief Operating Officer of Volkswagen Group, said: "For nearly 50 years, Volkswagen has continued to create memories for Passat owners. For our thousands of employees at Chattanooga, that's what makes their job special. We're also looking to the future, serving the market needs of Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport, as well as the US-spec ID.4 SUV coming in 2022, and they're ready to help American Volkswagen owners create millions more memories."
At present, the Passat car series is the only Passat Variant model choice in Europe; with the official entry of the American Passat into history, the current Passat sedan version is only left with the SAIC Volkswagen Passat and FAW-Volkswagen Magotan two models. Among them, SAIC Volkswagen Passat is an American-sized Passat twin car using the PQ platform; FAW-Volkswagen Magotan is a Twin version of the European standard with the MQB platform, but the wheelbase is 80mm longer.
Previously, there was also media speculation that the successor of the European and American passats will be the Aero-B model, which is expected to continue the configuration of the ID family using the MEB pure electric chassis platform, and it is expected that different transmission modes such as front-drive and four-wheel drive will appear, and it is expected that the new car will be unveiled at the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023.