Next Volkswagen Passat promises sleeker look

Volkswagen will talk all they like about the weight reductions, the information and safety systems and the plug-in hybrid variants of the new Passat, but none of that will matter much if the car looks like this.

Volkswagen today showed unique sketches from early in the design process of this, the eighth-generation of the Volkswagen.

The second-biggest saloon in the Volkswagen range (behind the Phaeton), the Passat will swing onto the largest version yet of the Golf’s MQB modular architecture.

While it’s not likely to run on the 30-inch wheels portrayed in these original design sketches, it will get a significant slice of the proportions, the sleek roofline and even some of the detailing and chiseled lines. It also leaves very little room for the more radical Passat CC.

With more than 22 million Passats already sold by Volkswagen, the new version, which will launch in Europe in the last quarter of this year, adopts many of the Golf's electronic safety systems and adds a few of its own.

It will be the first Volkswagen to use an Active Info display, which translates to a fully digital instrument cluster, an adjustable head-up display and upgraded rear-seat entertainment systems. On the safety front, it will have City Emergency Braking (which debuted on the facelifted Polo less than a month ago), a pedestrian monitoring system, autonomous emergency braking, a system to help park trailers and the Traffic Jam assist, to take the monotony out of stop-start ebbs and flows.

Volkswagen is expecting big improvements in efficiency, partly thanks to a potential weight saving of 85kg over the current car (depending on the engine/transmission) and partly due to the Passat body delivering Volkswagen’s third plug-in hybrid production car.

It claims to have saved 40kg in the engines alone, thanks to switching to a fleet of turbocharged, four-cylinder powerplants, plus another 33kg by using hot-formed and ultra-high strength steels in critical areas, and it’s also the first Passat to use aluminium in the body.

It boasts a new, lighter air-conditioner, plus makes use of lighter materials in its suspension systems, which have helped to make the rear suspension 4.7kg lighter than its predecessor and its steering system saves another 2.2kg.

Despite this, Volkswagen claims the body rigidity has risen 2000Nm/degree to 30,000Nm/degree.

Its engine family will range from 88kW to 206kW of power and it will debut an all-new, 2.0-litre, biturbo diesel four-cylinder engine, complete with 176kw of power and 500Nm of torque from just 1750rpm. It does all of this with a claimed economy figure of just over five litres/100km.

The new engine will come with a standard seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and all-wheel drive and is based around the existing EA288 engine family, but gains an extra turbo and is capable of 3.8 bar of boost pressure.

Volkswagen calls it a new engine because it need stronger connecting rods, pistons, crankcase, crankshaft, new piezo injectors capable of 2500 bar and a higher-performance cylinder head.

It also uses a centrifugal pendulum absorber in the gearbox to minimise vibrations at very low engine speeds, allowing Volkswagen to shift gears even earlier to save fuel without delivering uncomfortable coarseness.

It will deliver a plug-in hybrid right from the start of production, creating the third VW PIH after the XL1 and the Golf GTE.

With up to 50km of pure electric running, the Passat GTE will combine a 115kW, direct-injection, turbocharged petrol four with an 80kW electric motor, delivering a combined 155kW of total system power and 400Nm of torque.

It will be available both in saloon and estate formats and Volkswagen expects it to deliver similar NEDC figures to the Golf GTE, which posts 1.5 litres/100km on the combined cycle and emits just 35 grams of CO2.

While its official economy numbers aren’t confirmed, the Passat GTE is expected to deliver a total range of around 1000km.

The electric power will be stored in a liquid-cooled, 9.9kWh lithium-ion battery and is charged via a plug-in socket next to the Volkswagen logo in the grille.

Even with a focus on economy, the Passat Hybrid will still stretch out to 210km/h and reach 100km/h somewhere in the high seven-second bracket. It won’t be the fastest Passat by any means, but it will be the most economical.

The electronic trickery moves from the hybrid powertrain to the standard car’s interior, with every single analogue instrument replaced by a digital equivalent.

The standard display will be a 12.3-inch TFT screen that can work in either 2D or 3D layouts and it punches out its graphics with 1440 x 540 pixels of clarity. It’s also an interactive instrument cluster, with the speedo and tacho moving aside to allow a bigger navigational instruction when necessary.

Much of the detail that used to only be shown in the centrally mounted multi-media screen can now find their way into the normal instrument cluster in front of the driver, including CD covers or images from phone contact lists.

Depending on the specification level, the new dash, dubbed the Active Info Display, will be either standard or optional.

Volkswagen has been very, very late to the head-up display party, but that will finally change with the Passat, which uses an extendable glass panel to reflect information back to the driver.

It also scores faster multi-media processors and sharper graphics than the Golf VII and chimes in with connectivity options that include phone or tablet “MirrorLink” to integrate apps into the infotainment network.

Its planned array of safety systems includes a surround camera setup that utilizes four cameras (in the bootlid, the door mirrors and the grille) to deliver a 3D view of the car’s immediate surroundings.

Its parking systems have evolved to match the unit in the just-released Golf Sportvan and helps with parallel and 90-degree parking, along with an emergency stopping feature when reversing out of blind parking spots.

One of its cooler functions is a Trailer Assist setup that Volkswagen insists delivers perfect reversing every time at the push of a button. The camera-based system constantly watches the trailer and responds to the driver, who simply aims the trailer by using the side-mirror adjustment toggle as a joystick.