Even allowing for the fact that anything to do with executive motoring seems to go against the grain of what stilltranslates from its native language as the ''people's car'', there is no doubt that Volkswagen is aiming onward and upward.
If all the projects it has revealed in recent months reach production status, then in the early years of the next century the Volkswagen group will have not only the W12 supercar - is this or is it not a potential Le Mans contender? - but also a similarly engined top-rated
luxury saloon.
Whatever badges these cars carry, and the group management has plenty to choose from, including Audi, Horch and
Wanderer, they will be in
categories well what above
Volkswagen offers today.
Unobtrusively, though, the fifth generation Passat is maturing into a range with some quite special saloons and estates at the top of its price list. These are very smoothly styled cars, with low Cd Cfigures, but it is the advanced engines which make the difference.
There is a pioneering 2.3-litre V5 engine, with three cylinders on one bank and two on the other, offering a peak power output of 150bhp.
It is related to the more
conventionally laid out V6, a very powerful 2.8-litre with no fewer than five valves per
cylinder, 193bhp on tap, and VW's Syncro four-wheel drive as standard.
The V6 Syncro reaches 60mph in about 7.5seconds and has a manufacturer's claimed test track maximum on the high side of 145mph. And bearing in mind that Volkswagen's official performance figures are understated compared with those of some opposition makes - because they are taken with the cars half loaded instead of having only a lightweight driver on board - you realise that there is no reason for Volkswagen to be shunned by more obvious
members of the executive club.
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