This article is part of the 2023 New Releases Special. More than 100 launches to discover, with the support of Millennium bcp.
Among the many new models Volkswagen will introduce this year, the electric ID.7 saloon and the Tiguan SUV take centre stage.
We’ll start with the all-new Volkswagen ID.7. For the time being, this electric saloon will sit at the top of the ID family’s range - and it also steps in as the successor to the Passat saloon, which ended production in 2022.
That is not the end of its mission: the Volkswagen ID.7 will also carry the responsibility of being Volkswagen’s "weapon" against alternatives such as the Tesla Model 3 and the newly arrived, daring Hyundai IONIQ 6.
As for specifications, Volkswagen is still keeping them tightly under wraps. At CES, where we saw the prototype (still in camouflage), nothing was confirmed beyond a promise of ranges of up to 700 km and versions with one and two motors. Expect an estate, too.
The Tiguan’s last combustion generation?
If the ID.7 is likely to draw most of the attention among Volkswagen’s many launches this year, the most important model for the German giant’s finances may well be the arrival of the new generation Tiguan.
After all, the Tiguan has been Volkswagen’s best-selling model worldwide in recent years - and, in 2022, it was the brand’s third best-seller in Europe - so the new SUV generation has serious weight on its "shoulders".
Perhaps that is why Volkswagen appears to have little desire to change the "formula" we know from the current generation. French rival Peugeot, by contrast, is preparing a 3008 that will be very different from today’s car. The new Tiguan’s styling is set to be more evolutionary than revolutionary and it will continue to offer combustion powertrains, even if electrification is felt more strongly. Plug-in hybrid options are expected to play a bigger role.
New Passat, but estate only
Another outright Volkswagen debut for this year is a new generation Passat. The biggest headline may be that it will be offered only as an estate. As mentioned above, the saloon was discontinued in 2022 and will not return with this generation.
Volkswagen’s decision is backed up by the hard numbers. In Germany, its home market and also the largest market in Europe, nine out of every 10 Passats sold are estates.
The other "surprise" with the new Passat is that it is being co-developed alongside the new Skoda Superb and will also be built at the Czech flagship’s factory in Bratislava, Slovakia - a first in the model’s long history.
Second-generation Amarok with North American genes
Volkswagen’s 2023 is not made up only of cars and estates. The second generation of the Amarok, Volkswagen’s pick-up, was unveiled in 2022 but only arrives this year.
The biggest news? It is a "sister" model to the new Ford Ranger, one of several vehicles created under the Volkswagen–Ford agreement signed in 2019.
It is therefore no surprise that the new Amarok and the new Ranger have so much in common, even if Volkswagen’s designers deserve credit for giving it a distinct look.
However, the underpinnings and mechanicals are the same, with Volkswagen promising that the new Amarok will offer more space and capability than its predecessor. Get to know it in detail:
Restylings in duplicate
As if Volkswagen’s 2023 line-up did not already have enough new arrivals, with three major launches on its hands, the German manufacturer will also refresh two of its most important models: the iconic Golf and its electric counterpart, the ID.3.
Both were unveiled in 2019 and reached the market in 2020 - the year the world "stopped" - and both received… lukewarm receptions. Between software bugs, questionable usability and, particularly in the ID.3, an interior that fell below Volkswagen’s usual standards, this double update aims to put right what was not right and give them renewed, stronger appeal.
The ID.3 has already been revealed and sales will begin in the summer. Find out everything that has changed:
As for the Golf, a similar intervention to the ID.3 is expected. Exterior visual changes should be restrained, with improvements focused more heavily on the cabin. We have already "caught" it during testing:
This article is part of the 2023 New Releases Special. More than 100 launches to discover, with the support of Millennium bcp.
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