No New Passat for Ireland

Schorpio

Statement on the Passat on VW Ireland's website (here), which states that the next-gen Passat will not be offered to the Irish market. It goes on to offer the Arteon as the equivalent alternative.

While the Passat was never the most exciting car on the market, I do find it odd that the new one won't be coming here, especially so considering that it is available in the UK. VW in Germany are making RHD Passats, but VW Ireland have chosen not to stock them.

And though we are very much in the reign of the SUV, the last-gen (B8) Passat seemed to be very popular. You usually don't have to go far in any Irish town before you encounter one.

bazz26

It was announced some time that it wasn't coming to Ireland. The new generation Passat is an estate only anyway and I'd imagine the high price here would just push it out of reac plus sales of estate cars are pretty low in Ireland. The Arteon is based on the last generation Passat and production of the Arteon ends at the end of this year afaik. The ID.7 is supposed to technically succeed the Arteon in the VW line up even though it's too tall and awkward looking imo.

If you want a saloon or estate type car of the Passat then Skoda have a new Superb launching too.

Schorpio

Possibly, though the estate Passat always seems fairly commonplace here too - but we've never had the same inclination for estates compared to the UK.

I guess I'm just surprised that there was no merit in VW Ireland even offering it, considering VW UK will be. RHD, english-language service docs, probably shares quite a lot of it's parts with other current VW cars, no trouble sourcing or importing parts, etc.

Maybe it does come down to cost. The B9 Passat starts from £38.5k in the UK. A Superb starts at €45.9k here, so the Passat would be quite pricey when VRT is added in to the mix.

hoodie6029

Just changing demographics. The majority want crossover/SUV style vehicles.
Estate sales were never huge here. The attitude was always ‘they look like a hearse’ and saloons were considered premium. Which led to the inexplicable (to me) popularity here of Polo saloons and possibly the ugliest car ever sold in Ireland, the Fabia saloon

bazz26

The majority of people that bought a Passat moved to a Tiguan or the likes over the last number of years. The Passat segment has pretty much dissolved over the last decade - Avensis, Mondeo, Insignia, etc all gone. Demand for these cars has dropped off a cliff.

Also prices of cars especially ICE cars have gone very expensive over the last few years. Higher rates of VRT plays a part but so does emission regulations which means more money having to be spent on development to pass those regulations. Even a new model Tiguan starts at nearly 50k now while you can buy an ID.4 for low 40k. VW Ireland has obviously seen that bringing the Passat estate here at a competitive price just wasn't possible.

Norrie Rugger Head

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122133458#Comment_122133458

Could be worse; could be Volvo

No more S or V90 in any market

I mean estates mean Volvo and if they can't be bothered and are only doing SUV now…

Sam Russell

VW stopped selling petrol cars above the Golf for years, so if you wanted a petrol version of a VAG car you had to go Skoda or Seat.

I do not know why, but there it is. Petrol versions of the Tiguan, Passat, etc were sold in the UK, but not here.

They lost a new Tiguan sale from me - not for the first time. Another time I went into a VW main dealer to buy a new Golf and the salesman spent his whole time trying to sell me finance despite me saying I did not want finance - I always pay in full - so I walked out. Oh well, I still have the old Tiguan it was to replace.

Previously I had bought two new VW cars from that dealer. Their loss.

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122133928#Comment_122133928

Presumably not enough profit in it here. It's not just importing it that's a cost but I presume every dealer will need technicians trained for those models.

Sam Russell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122133976#Comment_122133976

But why was it only VW in the VAG group that stopped petrol versions of their larger models, while Seat and Skoda offered petrol versions of their equivalents? And why did VW(UK) sell the petrol versions?

Clo-Clo

Ireland doesn’t want cars and wants crossovers, all brands will be going to same direction I expect in the future with limited cars available

kindalen

THe Skoda Superb has been a popular alternative to the Passat. For me a decent hatchback is a sensible option.

bop1977

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122135096#Comment_122135096

its funny cause the new passat is just a reskinned superb.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122133302#Comment_122133302

Is it not that the car companies are pushing crossover style vehicles are the margins are better for the car companies?

Schorpio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122133458#Comment_122133458

Agree, but the difference is that the Avensis, Mondeo etc. were all canned by their manufacturers in their entirety.

VW are somewhat of the outlier here - they designed and launched a brand new car in the segment. So the VW Group as a whole has committed to the segment for the foreseeable, but VW Ireland has pulled out of it.

hoodie6029

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122135552#Comment_122135552

A bit of both really. Higher prices are good for the companies and consumers demand higher the bigger cars to get to flaunt the premium image too.

bazz26

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122135903#Comment_122135903

The last Passat ceased production back in 2022 so was withdrawn from the Irish market 2 years ago. VW Ireland knows the Irish market best. If there was enough demand in that time for a new Passat here they would bring it in but obviously felt that demand for an estate only and a high price point would be low.

And Toyota Ireland did similar with the new Prius. They brought it into Ireland yet Toyota UK originally decided not to bring it to the UK, however they got enough interest from potential buyers to change their minds recently.

Schorpio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122136292#Comment_122136292

True. I just find it odd they wouldn't want to have it on their range, given that it would be seemingly trivial to do so, especially with the commonality of parts with other VW models and the Superb.

As for the estates vs. saloons thing, on Carzone this morning there are 71 Passat estates and 383 Passat saloons. On AutoTrader, across the whole of the UK, there are 971 Passat estates vs. 838 Passat saloons. Not scientific in any way shape or form, but does confirm that there is a discrepancy between the two markets.

I've never understood the Irish car buyer's love for the saloon over an estate, but there we go.

Hurrache

The last two estate cars in our household were both originally English registered cars, and both had been brought into Ireland by dealers of that manufacturer.

Has that route been closed off post Brexit or is it still cost effective for dealers, (VW Ireland, Skoda Ireland etc) to do that, i.e. do they get exemptions that the public don't?

hoodie6029

The case for bringing back the Passat to the Irish market feels very much like a fan group demanding their favourite TV show be rebooted but then nobody watches it when it is!

R.O.R

VW Ireland brought the MK7 Golf estate in after not selling the MK6, and it didn't sell - loads of the ones you might see on the road were stock vehicles that ended up a dealer demo's. They didn't bother bringing in the MK8 Golf Estate and no one has missed it.

The demand for Estate cars in the Passat sector is slightly higher than in the Golf sector, but it's still practically non-existent and the Superb Estate is there for people who need an Estate. Those who want a Passat Estate will miss it, and the other 99.9% of Irish car buyers just won't notice.