Volkswagen released the new Passat in Paris today and it seems to bare a striking resemblance to the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta, only a bit more upscale looking. Actually the only thing that doesn’t look quite upscale looking is the rear end where the tail lights have too much of a resemblance to the Canada-only VW Jetta City. Still, the design is clean and classy.
But none of that matters because apparently Volkswagen is done with selling the Passat in our market. Whaa?!
Volkswagen confirmed that it would continue to sell the Passat in its current form here for another year, then it will get pulled. So we won’t even get to try this new Passat? What gives?
Volkswagen hasn’t exactly abandoned the mid-size market in North America. VW plans to offer a replacement to the Passat here called the NMS. Hmm… not sure how I feel about this. Usually cars designed specifically for North Americans means that you get a softer, bigger, less wagon or hatchback kind of ride. Mazda did it with their Mazda6 by offering a fatter, slower and uglier version just for us from the rest of the world and now it appears VW is going down the same road.
Let’s hope the NMS isn’t quite as much of a disappointment as I’m setting it up to be. I’ll be the first to eat my words should a test drive of the NMS proves to be impressive.
[Autoblog]
