B7 Passat to be made in China and will be stretched

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Whilst the automotive world is excited over the latest generation of Passat that was launched last week, the Chinese automotive press is even more excited as VW plans to produce the B7 generation in China, and stretch it too.

The Passat has been a popular car in China since its first introduction several years ago, Shanghai-VW took up the offer to build a new mid sized sedan in China which they later updated and called the Lingyu. FAW-VW took up the offer of the Passat B6, which they called the Magotan, after Shanghai-VW turned down the latest generation as they knew that there was plenty more mileage left in their B5 Passat and updated Lingyu. It’s not entirely clear who will get the new Passast, but it is likely to be FAW-VW yet again as they already have the current Magotan in production.

The stretched Passat will be 120mm longer than its European and North American rival to give it more rear leg room as the Passat is often used as a chauffeur driven car and making the rear more luxurious is more important than driver handling, the new B7 generation Passat is set to launch in early 2011 and will be built domestically.