When you hear the words "Performance Concept", you expect to see a high-powered model with looks to match its name, yet Volkswagen's U.S.-market Passat-based study doesn't satisfy in any of these aspects.

Sure, the German brand's new EA888 1.8-liter turbocharged produces an impressive output of 247-horses (250PS) for its displacement, but these days you can get a Honda Accord V6 with 278-horsepower – and the Japanese carmaker doesn't place a performance badge on it…

Read more »

Volkswagen is injecting some sportiness to its North American market Passat with the world premiere of a performance concept at next week's Detroit auto show.

Dubbed the "Passat Performance Concept", the German carmaker says the study gives us a sneak-peek at an upcoming sport variant of its mid-size model, which in 2012, recorded its best sales year ever in the States with 117,023 units.

Read more »

You may recall Honda’s 2012 Civic comprehensively hammered last year by Consumer Reports. The publication's verdict was such a big blow that Honda decided to speed-up its next redesign and its CEO took responsibility for its poor performance.

One would expect its sales to slump; but instead, they have gotten through the roof. Civic deliveries have increased this year by 40 percent through September, to 234,029 units and Honda’s compact car is on course to regain the segment crown in the U.S. after finishing third last year behind the Toyota Corolla and Chevrolet Cruze.

This brings up an interesting question: how much does automotive experts’ testing weigh on buyers’ decision when the time comes to buy a new car?

Read more »

In most markets, the lifespan of a new model is about six to eight years - give or take, with a facelift scheduled somewhere in the middle. China, on the other hand, is not your usual car market; or at least it wasn’t for quite a long time.

That’s why the Volkswagen Santana, which was based on the second generation of the Passat, code-named B2, and was launched in the Chinese market in 1982, soldiered on for three decades!

During that period, it sold nearly four million units, which made it one of the most popular cars in the country.

Read more »