Seven-year-old sedan pulled from sale but five-door sibling lives on, alongside two variants of Arteon.
Volkswagen has ended production of the Passat sedan, citing stronger sales of the wagon and the arrival of the Arteon fastback as factors in the decision.
The four-door is no longer available to order, and a spokesman confirmed that production was ended shortly before Christmas 2021.
The B8-generation Passat has been on sale since 2014Â and isn’t due to be entirely replaced until 2023, when the ninth iteration is slated to arrive atop an updated version of the MQB architecture and with a greater emphasis on practicality.
But several months ahead of the model’s retirement, Volkswagen has taken the decision to streamline the range, leaving only the wagon on sale.
We understand the more capacious car has outsold the sedan by a ratio of around 2:1 since at least the Passat was facelifted in 2019.
Volkswagen has sold sedan and wagon versions of the Passat since the original launched in 1973.
Another factor in the sedan’s early demise is the existence of the similarly positioned Arteon, which offers comparable levels of interior space and a similar engine line-up to the closely related Passat, albeit at a sizeable premium.
The company hasn’t set a date for the wagon’s withdrawal, but news of the sedan’s retirement comes as development ramps up on the new ‘Aero-B’, which will essentially serve as an all-electric equivalent to the Passat.
Felix Page