Volkswagen marks Passat's 40th anniversary

Volkswagen is celebrating 40 years of the Passat by reminiscing all of the model’s earlier avatars. It all began in Germany in May 1973 when Volkswagen decided to build a large saloon. Since then, the Passat has had six design generations and is still going strong in many leading automotive markets. With its seventh generation design, the Passat has become one of the three cars from the Volkswagen family to enter the top 10 list of bestselling cars in the world!

Designed by Giorgio Giugiaro, the Passat was created to appeal to middle-class families. Following its launch in July 1973, it quickly became one of the bestselling cars in Germany with 2.5 million units sold by the time the model went out of production in 1980.

The second generation model was an international star and was produced in Belgium, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and Japan. It had a host of new features and was available with a five-cylinder petrol engine or a turbodiesel engine aside from a four-wheel-drive option. Succeeding generations continued to improve and better refinement. In fact, the fifth generation gave a major boost to the brand with a totally transformed design, more luxury features and a range of four-, five-, six- and eight-cylinder engines.
  
With the tagline of “Expect Nothing Less” this German beauty grew more and more popular. It was instantly welcomed by people who wanted an affordable, refined and sophisticated machine which also gave them bragging rights at the same time. The Passat has earned many laurels and awards including the European Car of the Year thrice while being shortlisted as the World Car of the Year in 2006 – achievements that have helped it amass sales of 20 million units over the last 40 years.

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