A pretty Volkswagen Passat Limited Edition, seen in China’s capital Beijing in 2019. The Limited Edition was launched in 2004 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Shanghai-VW joint venture.
Shanghai-VW was founded in 1984. The first car to roll off the line was the Volkswagen Santana. Production of the B5 Volkswagen Passat started in 2002 and ended in 2009.
The Shanghai-VW B5 Passat should not be confused with the Shanghai-VW Passat Lingyu, which was a more luxurious and larger vehicle based on the Skoda Superb. The Passat Lingyu was made from 2005 until 2011, and for most of its existence sold alongside the Passat.
The Passat Limited Edition was powered by a 1.8 liter turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine, good for 150 hp and 210 Nm. Gearbox was a five-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic.
The Limited Edition came with lots of goodies: fancy 11-spoke alloy wheels, leather seats, a sun roof, cruise control, electric seats, Xenon headlights, a headlamp cleaner system, and a CD player with a 6-disc changer. But best of all where the Limited Edition badges on the front doors, and the manual version had a cool Limited Edition gear knob.
Characters: 上海大众, Shanghai Dazhong, Shanghai Volkswagen.
The Passat Limited Edition was priced at 278.000 yuan, which was a steep for the times. For comparison, the most luxurious normal 1.8T Passat sold for 225.000. Nevertheless, it seems Volkswagen sold quite a few and the Limited was actually available until 2006! Sadly, I didn’t have time to take more pictures but fortunately I found two full sets posted by owners on Chinese forums. Head over there or over here if you want to see more of this special Volkswagen Passat for China.
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