2019 Volkswagen Passat
With that said, the Euro version of the Passat is expected to carry a lot of styling cues from the new Arteon, especially in the front end. Of course, it won鈥檛 get that massive grille that takes up about 90-percent of the Arteon鈥檚 nasal landscape, but the grille will grow a bit in size. It looks like the air dam will take a completely different look, with the outside corners angling downward below the corner air intakes. The corner air intakes will also be different. They are quite a bit smaller while being more pronounced and mimicking those of the Arteon. The headlights are also a bit thinner and more sunk into the body, so expect the front fascia to be a bit taller above the intakes. It should make for a drastically different design, however, this is a touchy area and having too much bumper below the headlight could make the front end ugly.
As usual, the side profile won鈥檛 change at all.The only difference will be how the headlights terminate at the fenders and how the taillights terminate in the rear quarters. On a side note, Volkswagen must be pushing these prototypes to the limit as this one is sagging in the rear like a 1990 Chevy Caprice with original suspension and 900 pounds of fried-chicken-eating Americans in the back. It鈥檚 attached to a trailer and probably has weight in the rear. For those of you unaware, it鈥檚 quite common to use even smaller vehicles to tow things in Europe, so this might seem trivial if you鈥檝e never been there but proves VW is remaining vigilant as far as reliability. Around back, it鈥檚 painfully obvious that Volkswagen is trying to hide everything it possibly can. With that in mind, expect a mild revision to the rear fascia and new taillight units. You can already see a taillight design that鈥檚 eerily similar to those on the Arteon.
I wouldn鈥檛 expect to see the rear deck change, but there could be a slight redesign here to help facilitate new lights. Volkswagen doesn鈥檛 even have proper exhaust on this mule yet, but expect it to closely resemble the outlets on the Arteon, or basically a reworked version of what鈥檚 on the current Passat. The interior of the current Euro-spec Passat is pretty hard to distinguish from the new Arteon. Sure, there are little differences here and there, but for the most part, it鈥檚 largely the same. That tells us one thing - Volkswagen is happy with this interior design as it seriously did a copy and paste maneuver to design the interior of the Arteon - at least from the rear seats forward, anyway. With that said, there won鈥檛 be a lot of change happening inside. Expect slightly reworked seats and maybe a few less buttons thanks to a revised infotainment system but there鈥?won鈥檛 be much else to write home about. Passenger space and cargo space will carry over untouched. To put it simply, there will be new software for the infotainment system, maybe a revised instrument cluster and a few other little odds and ins.
VW is just trying to freshen up the exterior look to keep the sales coming until the next-gen model makes its debut. Truth be told, there won鈥檛 be a lot of change, but there could be a few things coming Europe鈥檚 way. Most of the engines will probably carry on unchanged. The GTE Hybrid, however, will likely get a new battery that should boost range and performance a bit. There鈥檚 also speculation that VW has been working on a new V-6 that will call the Passat R home. It will feature at least one Turbo and will be considered the range-topping model, most likely with some 310 horsepower on tap. The only other big news here is the potential for the Passat to show up with slightly improved emissions and fuel economy thanks to minor tweaks. These won鈥檛 be ground-breaking improvements, mind you, but an extra km here or there is nothing to frown about.
