Volkswagen’s new 2020 Passat is more powerful and gets premium looks

MANILA: Volkswagen has finally revealed the new 2020 Passat at the ongoing 2019 Detroit Motor Show. The new mid-size sedan features a more powerful engine, new exterior look, and a lot of standard aspects. The model doesn’t seem to appear as a direct replacement of the European B8 model but, as per the company, will have a new bumper-to-bumper warranty, which is made specifically for the North American market.

The new powerful Volkswagen Passat comes with a target to lure the buyers back to the sedans because the company has sold around 40,000 Passat sedan last year in the US market, which represents a decline of 32 per cent compared to the previous year, 2017. Although the new Passat is not an all-new car, it takes the cues from the previous platform (PQ46). Reportedly, it bears greater resemblance to the Passat NMS, which was made for to use in China only.

Let’s start with its engine, the new Passat gets the company’s four-cylinder 2.0-litre turbocharged TSI mill that churns out a power of 174 hp. The change comes with a torque converter unit, which improves the delivery up by 30 Nm to 280 Nm. The power is channelled to the front wheels via a six-speed automatic Tiptronic transmission. However, no other technical configuration has been revealed yet.

Moving on to the looks, it gets 17-inch wheels. The exciting thing is that buyers can upgrade it to 18 or 19-inch on the more expensive variants. It also gets slim LED headlights and taillights, along with the “Passat” text on the trunk lid, which makes the car look more premium.

Inside the cabin, the new Passat sedan gets the front air vents flush within the centre dash and there sits a MIB II Composition Media infotainment system, which can be upgraded to Discover Media too. The Car-Net App-Connect is standard for all the Passat models along with Apple CarPlay, MirrorLink and Android Auto connectivity.

The 2020 Volkswagen Passat sedan will go on sale in the US in the mid-2019.