Volkswagen Kills Off Passat in U.S. to Focus on SUVs and Electric Vehicles

Car companies have been paring their lineups of passenger cars in recent years, dropping sedan and hatchback models while adding more SUVs and pickup trucks. American buyers have gravitated to rides that have better utility and allow drivers to sit higher, a shift driven in part by a relatively long period of relatively low gas prices.

The proliferation of so-called crossover SUVs, which are built on a car frame, have allowed auto makers to offer smaller SUV body styles and better fuel efficiency than the larger, trucklike SUVs that surged to popularity in the early 1990s.

Other sedan names that have been sent to the scrap heap in recent years include the Chevrolet Impala,

Ford

Focus, Dodge Dart and Chrysler 200. VW did away with its quirky Beetle small car in 2019.

Sales of the Passat, which competes with other family cars such as the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, have steadily fallen in recent years along with other sedan models. VW sold about 23,000 Passats last year, down from about 78,000 in 2015, according to research firm Motor Intelligence.

Production of the Passat in Europe will continue, a VW spokesman said.

Detroit’s auto makers have led the trend away from passenger cars, winnowing most models from their lineups as they play to their historical strengths of pickup trucks and SUVs. Ford, for example, recently detailed plans to sell the Maverick small pickup truck, with a starting price around $20,000, the least-expensive vehicle in Ford’s U.S. showrooms.

VW and other auto makers also are rethinking their vehicle lineups as they prepare to roll out dozens of electric models in coming years. VW’s plans for plug-in cars are among the most aggressive of global auto makers.

VW began selling a North American version of its European Passat model under the name Dasher. It was sold under the Passat name in the U.S. beginning in 1990, and over the years was sold as a sedan and wagon.

In 2011, VW began U.S. production of the Passat sedans at its Chattanooga, Tenn., factory. The company said the plant remains busy with production of SUVs, such as the midsize Atlas, and will begin making electric cars.

Write to Mike Colias at [email protected]