The decline of mid-size sedan sales led several manufacturers to limit sales for select markets or abandon the segment altogether. Volkswagen chose the prior for the current-generation Passat, but the German automaker didn't want to kill off one of its longest-running nameplates, too.
Volkswagen's solution is to discontinue the sedan for most of Europe and continue the car's lineage as a station wagon. After all, the wagon body (known as the Passat Variant) outsells the sedan in the Old Continent by a hefty margin.
