VW Passat NMS vs B7

[jbi]

Volkswagen in order to meet it's goal of becoming the world largest automaker has decided it needs to increase it's poor north american sales. In order to do that it has decided the current Passat does not appeal to North American and has designed a new car for the USA, Canada and China.

The purpose of this post is to get a pistonheads comparo of the two cars, because I would really like to know if European and American tastes are really that different.

Was it wise of VW to do this just as Ford is creating global platforms and removing regional ones (e.g focus, transit)?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Passat_(B6...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Passat_NMS

Opinions appreciated

[nickdrinkwater]

Yes and no.

The B6 didn't sell that well in the USA. It was smaller than the big sellers such as the Accord and Camry, and I think pricier. The new Passat is better suited to their roads and to be fair is actually an all-new car rather than the B7 which is actually a facelift despite what they say. The NMS has a nicer interior (IMO based on pictures) too. They've got much more space in the USA and the Gulf where the NMS will be sold..

They have also done a similar thing with the Jetta and it has been a success apparently.

The no: Some loyal VW buyers might be put off that the NMS isn't a "true" VW.

[jbi]

Just to revive this thread...

Seems like the NMS is going global these day's with the Chinese, Russians, South Koreans getting it as well as the Americans and Canadians.

I think this car should be brought to Europe as the replacement for the "B7".

It's still smaller than a mondeo, whilst being cheaper to build than the current car and sporting a nicer interior.

It also won car of the year In a March 2012 comparison test by Car and Driver.

[davepoth]

It's a common platform - it'll underpin everything from the Skoda Superb to the new Audi A4, so this is exactly VW's plan of using global engineering to provide local solutions.