The Volkswagen Passat Is *Officially* Dead In The U.S. After A 48-Year Run

VW's run included 1.8 million Passat sales in the U.S.

2022 Volkswagen Passat — End of the line
Volkswagen is shifting its Chattanooga, Tennessee plant production over to the new ID.4 this year. (Images: Volkswagen)

After nearly 50 years, the Volkswagen Passat bows out from the U.S.

Midsize sedans are thinner on the ground, as VW waves goodbye to its long-lived (but slow-selling) Passat model. We knew that was coming as the automaker announced a Limited Edition send-off last summer — ending a saga that began back in 1974. In its first generation, the car arrived as the “Dasher”, followed by the “Quantum” in the 1980s before VW finally landed on Passat in the car’s third generation for 1990.

Over its run, we’ve seen seven generations of what’s been (minus the exceptionally short-lived Phaeton’s presence in our market) the flagship of Volkswagen’s sedan lineup. Since the B7 Passat debuted in 2006, we Americans have enjoyed a different version of the Passat to what’s available over in Europe, with the latest generation starting production in Chattanooga, Tennessee back in 2012.

In that 9-year span, the plant built some 800,000 Passats. Over its entire lifespan, VW sold more than 1.8 million examples in the U.S. market.

With a few updates along the way, that was still the model we saw on Volkswagen dealer lots up through the end of last year. Now, in addition to building the Atlas and Atlas Sport crossovers, Chattanooga will shift production toward the electric ID.4 in 2022. Volkswagen will still have the Arteon as a midsize four-door offering, and you can check that out below: