Volkswagen Passat GTE plug-in hybrid Saloon and Estate now on sale in the UK
The Volkswagen Passat GTE Plug-in Hybrid finally goes on sale in the UK priced from £36,525, or £38,075 for the GTE Estate.
At £36.5k for the saloon, it’s quite tough for private buyers to justify the cost when the Passat GT TDi comes with almost as much power (190PS) and economy which, in the real world, will probably be better, and costs £6k less. Although, for now, there is a £2,500 plug-in grant available to narrow the gap.
But car makers are busy building plug-in hybrids like the Passat GTE because governments have been so fixated by CO2 emissions they’ve skewed the tax costs hugely in favour of those cars which seem to be green, and the useless official economy tests, which proclaim the Passat GTE will emit just 39g/km and do 166mpg. Right, and Jeremy Corbyn buys his suits from Gieves & Hawkes.
But that skewed taxation means, for business users, very low BIK costs, BIK costs that will make the plug-in hybrid version of the Passat far more appealing to the middle manager with his £30-40k budget.
Both the Saloon and Estate versions of the Passat come with a 1.4 litre TSI petrol engine producing 154bhp and an electric motor a further 113bhp – driven through a specially developed six-speed DSG ‘box with an extra clutch to disengage the ICE when not in use – enough for a sprint to 62mph in 7.6 seconds. The Passat GTE also boasts a range of 31 miles on just the electric motor (but not in the real world).
Cosmetic tweaks over the regular Passat include C-shaped LED running lights, a blue line on the grille, different front bumper and 18″ alloys.
Standard interior stuff includes blue ambient lighting, leather multi-function steering wheel with blue stitching, GTE gear knob with, you’ve guessed it, blue stitching and seats covered in Alcantara with leather side bolsters.
Technology on offer includes VW’s Car-Net e-Remote for interfacing with the GTE from your Smartphone, Adaptive Cruise Control, Front Assist, City Emergency Braking, Discover Nav, Bluetooth, Parking Sensors and LED headlights and tail lights
The more expensive GTE Advance (£37,680 for the saloon and £41,730 for the estate) adds in stuff like Active Info Display (an option on the regular GTE), Discover Pro Nav with 8″ screen, Area View, LED Premium headlights and Nappa leather.
The new Volkswagen Passat GTE Saloon and Estate can be ordered from tomorrow (2 August 2016) from VW’s UK dealers with first customer cars due later in the month.
Peter Abatan says
It is great to see that VW has not plunked another diesel engine into these hybrids. Hurray! more less polluting engines.