The 30,000,000th Volkswagen Passat just rolled off the lines, securing its status as the world’s best-selling C-class car.
The company reports that the car left the factory in Emden, Germany, as a Passat GTE estate/wagon painted silver and packing a hybrid powertrain. The latter included a 1.4-liter turbo gas engine rated at 156 hp (116 kW) and an electric motor contributing another 115 hp (86 kW). Mated to a six-speed dual-clutch transmission, the vehicle offers up to 50 km (31 miles) of all-electric driving range and complies with the Euro 6d requirements that only come into power in two years.
The VW Passat series has been around for 46 years. Volkswagen AG produces it in 10 factories scattered across three continents and sells it on more than 100 markets.
However, it is the Golf – and not the Passat – that is the absolute sales leader of the German company, scoring 35,000,000 copies sold over 45 years.
Photos: Volkswagen