The Volkswagen Passat is a family car built by Volkswagen through six design generations since 1973. Falling between the Golf/Jetta and Phaeton in the current Volkswagen line-up, the Passat has been badged variously as Dasher, Santana, Quantum, Magotan, Corsar and Carat. Notably, Volkswagen has announced the forthcoming Passat CC, a 4-door "coupé" version of the Passat.

The name 'Passat derives from the German word for trade wind.

The Passat falls in the middle of the sedan/saloon market segment and was critical to Volkswagen on its introduction in 1973, as the sales of the aging Beetle were declining, and larger air-cooled rear-engined models like the Volkswagen Type 3 and 411 and 412 based on older technology were also failing to take hold in the market.

Following the Volkswagen Group's acquisition of Audi in 1964, Volkswagen used new 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. The first Passat was developed directly from the Audi 80/Fox and until 2005 the two shared a history.

View also:
Volkswagen Golf- Volkswagen Polo - Volkswagen Scirocco - Volkswagen Tiguan

Volkswagen BlueSport - Volkswagen Fox - Volkswagen Touareg

Volkswagen SP2 - Volkswagen Pickup - Volkswagen Classic - Volkswagen Concept A

Volkswagen EcoRacer - Volkswagen Eos - Volkswagen GX3 - Volkswagen Iroc

Volkswagen Jetta - Volkswagen Nanospyder - Volkswagen Neeza - Volkswagen Phaeton

Volkswagen Up! - Volkswagen W12 - Volkswagen Beetle

Check out the Volkswagen Passat wallpapers and Volkswagen Passat Pictures (pics) collection below: