Volkswagen of America president and CEO Michael Horn has revealed that an upcoming facelift will represent a “big step” forward for the Passat midsize sedan.
Slated to arrive for the 2016 model year, the update will go far beyond the mild nip-and-tuck seen in the 2015 Jetta, Horn stated in an interview with Motor Trend.
“The Jetta [refresh] now is a decent step…it’s nice, makes it more sporty, makes it more dynamic,” Horn said. “But it’s on the lower end of what we can do. But the Passat [refresh] is very strong. We go much further.”
In the past, Horn has suggested that the changes for 2016 will include new driver assistance technologies, additional features and, perhaps most importantly, a more dynamic look. Precise details are unavailable, but given how the segment’s styling bar has been raised by rivals like the Ford Fusion and Mazda6, the facelifted Passat might be noticeably less conservative than the current model.
Horn disclosed a few other nuggets of info during the course of the MT interview, saying that a new-generation Jetta will arrive in 2017 and utilize the same MQB modular architecture as the latest Golf. Asked whether the next Scirocco could make its way to U.S. shores, he didn’t completely shut the door on the possibility, replying “We could see it if there’s a Scirocco successor.”
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