New Volkswagen Passat eHybrid Match and Black Edition

When you’ve spent the last five decades giving people more than they might expect, it gets increasingly difficult to stay ahead of the competition. Unless you’re a Volkswagen Passat, in which case it’s surprisingly easy. And in this case, staying ahead is the goal for two new variants of the VW Passat eHybrid: the new Match, and the Black Edition.

The ever-popular Volkswagen Passat has been in production for 53 years, with the latest ninth-generation version winning a host of awards since it was unveiled in 2023.

Now, Volkswagen is offering two new eHybrid trim levels, Match and Black Edition, to replace the Passat Life and R-Line eHybrids. Both offer extra features above the outgoing specifications, and both manage to do so at no extra cost.

All Volkswagen Passat eHybrids already come jam-packed with attractive and useful features as standard. These include wireless phone charging and multiple charging ports for devices, digital radio and voice assistant with ChatGPT integration, massage seats, Park Assist Plus with memory feature, a rear-view camera, adaptive cruise control and a host of safety systems including advanced driver attention and drowsiness monitor. Phew!

But apparently, that isn't enough.

The new Match and Black Edition eHybrid models deliver even more standard equipment compared to the outgoing Life and R-Line variants. The new Match trim adds £3,890 worth of options to the standard specification, while the Black Edition offers even better value with £4,905 worth of extras now included in the price.

The new Passat eHybrid Match variant adds metallic paint, IQ LED matrix headlights, tinted glass, and VW’s Assistance pack featuring area view and emergency assist to the already impressive specification.

Black Edition models also come with the metallic paint, tinted glass, and assistance package, and then they add 19-inch alloy wheels, panoramic roof, Winter package with heated front and rear seats, 15-inch infotainment screen, and head-up display just to make sure.

In terms of powertrain, both new trims come with VW’s 1.5-litre TSI hybrid-petrol engine paired with a six-speed DSG transmission as standard, sending a total of around 200bhp to the front wheels.

The 19.7 kWh battery fitted to all Passat eHybrids offers an all-electric range in the region of 83 miles, which is more than enough to cover the average daily commute. The battery can also be topped up from 5% to 80% in just 26 minutes at up to 40 kW using public chargers.

On top of that, if you opt for the Passat eHybrid Black Edition you can specify a slightly more interesting engine option that boosts the power to a respectable 270bhp. Although, there is a trade-off for the extra power in the shape of only getting 77 miles of all-electric driving. An extra 70bhp, or an extra six miles of battery range: that’s your choice.

This year alone, the VW Passat was named Estate of the Year and Tow Car of the Year at the 2025 What Car? New Car Awards, where it also earned the Safety Award following extensive testing by Thatcham Research.

Next year, it looks like the plan is to sweep the board of “value for money” awards with the highly equipped new VW Passat eHybrid Match and Black Edition available to lease now.