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| The other models employed much older and outdated | | | | two models were rapidly aging and becoming |
| technology and they were failing to maintain a hold on | | | | outdated; the Passat was a response to this and |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