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Volkswagen Passat
The Volkswagen Passat
is a midsize car/large family car built by
Volkswagen AG, produced in various forms since
1973. It falls between the Volkswagen Golf/Jetta
and Phaeton in the current Volkswagen lineup,
and is currently produced in Volkswagen's
plant in Emden, Germany. Although normally
known as the Passat in European markets, it
has been badged as a variety of other names
including Dasher, Santana and Quantum, particularly
in markets such as North America.
The Passat has always
been one of Volkswagen's most important models,
falling in the middle of the sedan/saloon
market segment. It was critical to Volkswagen
on its introduction in 1973-sales of the Beetle
were declining, and larger air-cooled rear-engined
models like the 411 and 412 were failing to
take hold in the market. Following the Volkswagen
Group's acquisition of Audi in 1964, Volkswagen
was able to use newly gained engineering expertise
to develop a modern front wheel drive car
with a water-cooled engine, and thus the Passat
and Golf (the latter being introduced in 1974)
were the first of a new generation of Volkswagens.
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