The Volkswagen Group is celebrating a number of major and minor anniversaries this year. Lamborghini is celebrating its 50th birthday, the 911 model from Porsche is celebrating the same jubilee, and the Audi A3 has 3 million units produced . Parent company Volkswagen joins in with the celebration of 40 years of the Passat model.
The first generation B1 was introduced on 25 June 1973 and the design came from the pen of Giorgetto Giugiaro . The car was based on the technology of the Audi 80 , introduced a year earlier, and was offered as a two- and four-door sedan and as a three- and five-door hatchback. Sales of the first-generation Passat ceased in 1980, and during that time a respectable 2.5 million units were sold .
The second generation B2 was introduced in 1981 and was sold in hatchback, station wagon and sedan body styles. The latter was known as Santana in some markets. The Passat of the second generation had such technology as a five-cylinder gasoline engine, an automatic stop/start system or all-wheel drive. In most markets, production ended in 1988, but in Brazil, for example, the model was available until last year. Almost 3.4 million Passat B2s were produced directly in Germany, while worldwide production is estimated to have exceeded 4.5 million units .
The third generation B3 was introduced in Europe in 1988 and had its own platform for the first time. The range of body variants was narrowed down to a four-door sedan and a five-door station wagon. The top variant with a VR6 engine with a volume of 2.8 liters reached a maximum speed of 224 km/h.
The next Passat carried the code B4 , but it was not a completely new model, but a facelift of the previous B3 . The B4ka was introduced in 1994 and apart from the modified design, it was not very different from the B3 .
The next generation B5 was introduced in Europe in 1996 and again shared a platform with Audi , specifically the first generation A4 . In 2000, a facelift with the code name B5.5 was introduced, under the hood of which a W8 engine with a volume of 4.0 liters and a power of 275 hp even appeared in 2001. In 2001, a sibling also arrived in the form of the first generation of the modern Skoda Superb .
The Volkswagen Passat B6 was introduced in Europe in 2005, again not sharing a platform with Audi . In 2008, a body version of the four-door coupe called Passat CC came. A year later, the Passat was significantly redesigned and given the B7 designation, with the related Passat CC becoming a separate model and dropping the Passat name from the name. Instead of the B7 generation, a separate B8 model with the nickname New Midsize Sedan came to the USA.
This year marks 40 years since the first Passat car was introduced, and over 20 million units were produced during that time. We congratulate Volkswagen and wish them continued success.
Source: Volkswagen
