In 2023, Volkswagen will reveal an all-new Passat mid-sized car. It will be larger than before, offered only as a wagon in Europe, and likely powered by hybrid or plug-in hybrid engines.
The Volkswagen Passat was introduced in 1973, one year before the Golf, meaning it’s the most senior car made by the German automaker. However, it’s not the most relevant, and the all-new generation reflects this. Meet the 2024 VW Passat B9 as it will look when it enters production next year.
The new Passat has done a lot of road testing this year, and the camouflage was getting thinner by the day. The website Kolesa gathered all the information it could from spy photos and put together this set of renderings, which presumably come pretty close to the actual 2024 Passat.
I’m a fan of the Passat and I don’t want to believe this is what the car will look like. Certainly, there are a few mistakes with these renderings, but the front end looks is unfortunately pretty spot-on. The “look” is also being applied to the upcoming all-new Tiguan and could affect the Golf 8 after during its mid-life facelift.
This kind of blobby teardrop look is similar to many things within the VW family, but not identical. The most important ones are the ID. Aero and Aero B Variant concepts, which are basically the Passat’s EV replacements. But Volkswagen isn’t quite ready to let go of the Passat, just like the Golf hasn’t been replaced by the ID.3 yet.
The 2024 Passat will have a wrap-around headlight unit and taillights that are also joined in the middle. You may also notice that the proportions are slightly lighter. That’s because the new model is much more closely related to the next-gen Skoda Superb which uses an extended wheelbase version of the MQB Evo platform. At one point, even Audi considered making an MQB-based vehicle similar to the Passat as a replacement for the A4.
Engine options remain unconfirmed, but the Passat still plays the role of the primary fleet car. That means low emissions and efficiency are important. We suspect it will offer two versions of the 2.0 TDI with 150 and 200 hp, as well as two plug-in hybrid drives with 200 and 245 hp.
