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UK Pricing for the VW Passat CC Announced

May 9, 2008 8:56 PM by Clinton Deacon
Filed Under: Volkswagen

Volkswagen UK has announced the pricing for the new Passat CC with the entry level 1.8-litre TSI with 160 horsepower starting at £21,040 rising to £31,120 for the top of the line 3.6-litre V6 pumping out 300 horsepower.

The CC will be offered with two trim levels: the standard model or the GT. The standard will come with 17” ‘Phoenix’ alloy wheels, 2Zone Climatronic air conditioning, touchscreen CD stereo system with six-disc autochanger, six-way electrically adjustable sports seats, a multifunction leather steering wheel, six airbags and ESP. The additional extras on the GT model include 18” ‘Interlagos’ alloy wheels, ‘silversprint’ upholstery, tinted windows, front foglights and Adaptive Chassis Control (ACC).

With the Passat CC, VW is entering into a new market which was previously monopolised by the Mercedes CLS and will give consumers a non premium option in the 4-door coupe segment.
Source: VW UK

Original Link: WorldCarFans.com -- UK Pricing for VW Passat

Maybe someone here could answer this question: it says the car costs '£31,120' which is equivalent to ~$60,000 U.S. dollars, but is that the actual, real market value of the car?

For instance: an E350 in the U.S. costs around $50,000, but in the UK it costs around £30,000. Does it 'really' cost 60 U.S. grand in the UK? Or is 30,000 pounds really equivalent (in real street value, not exchange rate) to 50,000 dollars?

I know there are taxes involved, but forget those for the moment

That's exactly how it is. The same way $50 000 in the US has the same market value as €50 000 has in Germany or France.

I Simply hate that car.

If I am not mistaken, the CC 3.6 V6 version will cost as much as an E 350...that is quite amazing considering the E 350 cost more than twice as much as a Passat 3.2 V6 in Australia, so in theory the Passat CC cost twice as much as the normal Passat.

I wonder what it is that you're trying to ask here. The UK list price for the E350 is £37,577, but that is hardly what you'd pay if you wanted to buy one. Top Gear magazine lists a 'target price' (i.e. the best real-world price) of £31,999 (~62K USD). As for the Passat CC, the 3.6 is not going to be in high demand in European markets (most buyers will opt for the diesels), so if you were to buy one you could probably get a decent discount too.

Europeans definitely pay more (no matter how you look at it) for almost any car than Americans.

Thanks, that's been bothering me for a while

I was just asking about 'street' or 'real' value of the money.

For instance (just hypothetically) if in Britain you pay 3 pounds for a loaf of bread and in the U.S. 4 dollars for the same, is 3 pounds 'really' equivalent to 4 dollars, or are Britons 'really' paying 6 dollars for the bread?

It seems, regardless of the exchange rate, the loaf of bread (all other things being equal) will have one abstract value, and that value will be mirrored by the currency. For instance, if the loaf of bread has 'value X', then 'value X' is equivalent to '3 pounds' or '4 dollars.'

The question really stemmed from Top Gear calling £12-£15,000 cars 'affordable and cheap.' 30 U.S. grand hardly seems cheap.. :/

But then again, as you said, Europeans definitely pay more for cars. So £15,000 would be cheap.

^ So basically we're talking about something like the Big Mac index here? They might give some indication as to the 'real' value of the currency, but there are so many other things one should take into account that realistic comparison is extremely difficult.

Blame the falling value of the the dollar. Back in 2001 and such one Dollar was equal to one Euro. That has created the illusion that things are way cheaper in the US, the manufacturers never care for exchange rates and they stick to their pricing structure regardless if a currency in one particular country has dropped significantly. It would be too complicated and messy to constantly change pricing because of exchange rates.