The Volkswagen Santana is a sedan version of the Volkswagen Passat, first introduced in 1981, and also known in the Americas as the Quantum (at least in Brazil, only the station wagon version was called Quantum). In Europe the Santana name was dropped in 1986, with the model simply renamed the Passat.
During this time, production of the Santana began in China, with the model available as a sedan and station wagon, which continues today. Similar versions of the same model have remained in production in Brazil and Argentina, where during the early 1990s, the car was also sold as the Ford Versailles.
It falls between the Volkswagen Golf/Jetta and Phaeton in the current Volkswagen lineup, and is currently produced in Volkswagen's plant in Emden, Germany.
It was critical to Volkswagen on its introduction in 1973, as the sales of the aging Beetle were declining, and larger air-cooled rear-engined models like the Volkswagen Type 3 and 411 and 412 based on older technology were also failing to take hold in the market.
Following the Volkswagen Group's acquisition of Audi in 1964, Volkswagen was able to use newly gained engineering expertise to develop a modern front wheel drive car with a water-cooled engine, and thus the Passat and Golf (the latter being introduced in 1974) were the first of a new generation of Volkswagens.
It falls between the Volkswagen Golf/Jetta and Phaeton in the current Volkswagen lineup, and is currently produced in Volkswagen's plant in Emden, Germany, as well as Zwickau.
Volkswagen's new 2.8 V6 VR6 engine (also used in the Golf and Corrado) was also made available in 1991, giving the top-of-the-range Passat a top speed of 224 km/h (139 mph).
Volkswagen made a series of commercials in mid-2006 claiming the Passat had the "lowest ego emissions" on the road.
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