Volkswagen Passat sedan passes on to auto graveyard after 2022 Limited Edition model
The Volkswagen Passat joins a growing list of mid-size sedans destined for the automotive graveyard. The under-performing sedan gets one last hurrah with a Limited Edition model for 2022, which will be its last year of production in the U.S., Volkswagen announced Monday.
Overshadowed by the larger, luxury-leaning Volkswagen Arteon sedan, and with a low TCC Rating of 5.7 out of 10, the 2021 VW Passat paled in comparison to better sedans and more popular crossover SUVs. VW will shift production in its Chattanooga, Tenn., plant away from the low-selling Passat to electric vehicles. The plant also makes the popular Atlas three-row crossover SUV and five-seat Atlas Sport crossover.
“With the Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport in high demand, and the North American production launch of the all-electric ID.4 SUV next year, our future in Chattanooga looks brighter than ever,” Scott Keogh, President and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America, said in statement.
That bright future won’t include the Passat, which launched in Germany in 1973. In the U.S., it launched the following year under the Dasher badge; the Passat name appeared in 1990. Just shy of its 50th birthday, the Passat will get a short-term run of 1,973 Limited Edition models celebrating the vehicle’s past and its association with the Chattanooga plant that has been making the sedan for the past decade.
2022 Volkswagen Passat Limited Edition
2022 Volkswagen Passat Limited Edition
2022 Volkswagen Passat Limited Edition
