autoevolution
 

Volkswagen Confirms Passat Facelift and T-Cross Debuts for 2018

Volkswagen has confirmed that a facelift for the Passat will debut in Europe in 2018. This will affect both the sedan and wagon bodies while continuing to include the GTE plug-in hybrid version. The Alltrack isn't mentioned, though.
Volkswagen Confirms Passat Facelift and T-Cross Debuts for 2018 5 photos
Photo: Florin Profir
Volkswagen Passat Facelift Coming in 2018 With Arteon StylingVolkswagen Passat Facelift Coming in 2018 With Arteon StylingVolkswagen Passat Facelift Coming in 2018 With Arteon StylingVolkswagen Passat Facelift Coming in 2018 With Arteon Styling

“The redesigned Passat is on the starting blocks for Europe. As usual, the Passat will also be available as Variant and hybrid models. And at the end of the year, our compact city SUV, the T-Cross, is to follow,"
said Chairman Herbert Diess during the annual press conference.

No further details have been released, nor have we seen any Passat facelift spyshots. However, the mid-size sedan should benefit from tech being developed for other cars, especially the Golf 8.

1.4 TSI? Goodbye, replaced by the 1.5 TSI with 130 or 150 HP. It's also possible that the Passat BlueMotion will use a 1.5 TSI with hybrid assist instead of the 1.6 TDI.

Both the 1.8L with 180 HP and the 2.0L with 220 should be replaced by newer 2.0-liter engines with 190 and 230 HP, respectively. The 280 horsepower engine has already been discontinued, possibly to be replaced with the one they put in the Superb (272 HP).

The 8th-generation Passat was launched in November 2014, so the facelift will arrive roughly four years into its life cycle. This is the most popular D-segment car in Europe, with 180,000 deliveries last year (Europe-exclusive).

In total, Volkswagen says it will launch 22 new cars all over the world this year. We've already seen some of them, like the Jetta and U.S.-spec Arteon. The  T-Cross, debuting towards the end of the year, was also confirmed.

However, a lot of interesting stuff is reserved for China. For example, the Tiguan GTE plug-in hybrid we saw several years ago will debut there, along with a long-wheelbase version of the T-Roc.

The NMS Passat will get a new version, as will the Lavida. A full-electric version of the Bora (you know it as the Jetta) will roll off the same assembly line as the Chinese e-Golf.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories