Volkswagen Planning to Launch Passat B8 in Early 2016

KUALA LUMPUR: The sleek Passat B8 that was showcased by Volkswagen at the company's Das Event last year will soon be available in the Malaysian market, as revealed by Armin Keller, MD of Volkswagen Group Malaysia (VGM).

In an interview with BFM 89.9, Armin claimed that Volkswagen will unveil the B8-Generation Passat early in 2016. Details of the specifications and feature distribution of different variants remain unknown, though he did mention that more models like the Golf GTE will soon be added to augment the portfolio. All these models will initially be introduced as CBUs (Completely Built Units).

The interview also revealed about the company's continuous efforts to improve the brand's after sales service. The Managing Director also claimed that introduction of courtesy cars and continuous monitoring at dealership levels has significantly reduced waiting periods to two days for regular maintenance and six for major repairs.

Talking about the now infamous failures of company's DSG Automatic Gearboxes, Keller assured that no more failures have been reported after the prolems were apparently solved half a year ago. Further talks suggested that the conglomerate is now delivering vehicle parts throughout the Klang Valley in order to eliminate the possibilities of shortage of spares.

Volkswagen is also reportedly planning to make Malaysia a regional hub, so as to export locally-assembled cars to neighbouring countries. The company has already taken the plunge as a batch of its Polo models, assembled in Pekan, will soon be exported to Indonesia, while further plans include exports to markets like Thailand.