The Passat is an automobile that was launched under the Volkswagen line and it falls in the middle of the sedan market segment. This model was absolutely critical to the Volkswagen name when it was introduced in 1973 because at the time the sales of the Beetle were declining drastically. The Beetle was the very first model that was developed by the Volkswagen line and it introduced the automobile manufacturer name to the entire world. When the sales of the Beetle began to decline it was a perfect time to introduce a much larger vehicle like the Passat. The other models employed much older and outdated technology and they were failing to maintain a hold on the market.
The original Volkswagen Passat was offered in many different styles to the Volkswagen customers and much of this is due to how great VW parts can be for an automobile. They designed the original and standard two and four door models, but then they also had very similar looking three and five door versions. On the outside, all of these versions shared the same stylish design; this was developed by the Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro. The idea was to model the very first Passat after the Audi 8.0 sedan that had been launched by the company only one year earlier.
In Europe, the Passat very quickly became one of the most modern and stylish family cars that was available at the time. Before the Passat was conceptualized and developed, there were the Volkswagen Types three and four. By the early seventies though, these two models were rapidly aging and becoming outdated; the Passat was a response to this and offered a more attractive replacement. Originally, the Passat was constructed with VW parts that used a four cylinder overhead camshaft and 1.51 petrol engines, which not surprisingly, were also used in the Audi 8.0 sedan. The Passat followed suit with the Audi in having either a four speed manual transmission or a three speed automatic, depending on your personal preference.
The VW parts that were used to construct the very first Passat were strong enough to last for years before it had to be reconstructed. The designers and engineers at Volkswagen have made many updates and modifications to the Passat since 1973, and this is why it continues to be one of the best selling cars for Volkswagen as well as in the entire mid size sedan market segment.
