Volkswagen announced that the last North American Volkswagen Passats had been produced at the company's U.S. plant, a plan located in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The Volkswagen ID.4 will replace the Passat on the assembly line. Ironically, the Chattanooga plant was built expressly to assemble the Passat designed for the North American market. It has been in operation since 2011.
In total, just over 800,000 units of the model have been assembled there since that year.
VW’s Passat appealed to the American public because of its relatively affordable price, but especially because of its more spacious format compared to the previous model. In fact, sales exploded in 2011-12 with the arrival of the new model, rising from 22,835 units in 2011 to 125,212 in 2012. Unfortunately, results have declined virtually every year since. Last year, Volkswagen sold only 24,938 Passats in the United States.
In Canada, 8,019 models were sold in 2012. Things got worse after that, so that only 672 versions were sold in 2019. Sales of the models bounced back slightly after that, but still, only 2,154 units sold in 2021.
Could the fate of the North American Passat have been avoided? It should be noted that the Passat has not changed in 10 years, which certainly help its cause. At the same time, the emergence of SUVs at the expense of cars was such that even more-regular updates may not have saved the sedan.
In any event, time moves on and brings its inevitable changes. Long live the ID.4.
The European Passat, distinct from the version just killed off here, will continue to be offered in some markets.
Check out our reviews of that first 2012 North American Volkswagen Passat right here:
2012 Volkswagen Passat 2.5L Comfortline Review: VW Super-Sized
2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI Trendline+ Review: All-Around Thriftiness
2012 Volkswagen Passat 2.5L Highline Review: Demure Demeanour for the Win
