AWD Passat Wagon coming to China

---

For those Wagon lovers in China (and we are a limited few), the choices are hard in a market where compact SUV’s are the flavor of the day, although in recent years there has been an influx of new models such as the Subaru Legacy wagon and Brilliance’s home made BS4 wagon there still is a large gap in the market, previously we had the Buick Excelle wagon and also the Mazda6 wagon but poor sales of the later seem to have put Mazda off from launching a fresh one. Compact SUV’s are okay at what they do, but why carry around so much needless bulk when you can have the slender lines of a wagon, and sometimes in AWD too?

VW have seen that there is a market for wagons and are planning to bring the Passat Wagon into China, initially as an import model but likely to be Chinese made should demand be high enough. The Wagon is likely to come in AWD and front wheel drive formation and prices are expected to be from the high 200,000rmb marker to upto 500,000rmb depending on specification, so far all of VAG groups Chinese built AWD models have been extremely expensive in China, but Subaru have entered with their own imported AWD models at the 300,000rmb marker which may have given VW a little sales sting in the AWD sedan segment.

Whilst the introduction of the Passat Wagon may seem insignificant on the surface, it might start a Chinese wagon culture and push other manufacturers into introducing wagons into China in the near future, we’re hoping for a Buick Regal wagon (or even a new Buick Excelle wagon in 1.6t form!) and a Ford Mondeo wagon in the near future.