VW's tentative first steps toward the future

In the early '70s, Volkswagen was in trouble. Japanese car companies were starting to encroach on the Beetle's reputation for reliability and efficiency; they could offer all of the Beetle's room and all of the fuel mileage with plenty more power and less idiosyncratic operation. The Beetle was still a '30s-designed relic; the Japanese updated their machines every four years like clockwork. For the same money, more and more people were opting for something new.

VW understood that the iconic Beetle couldn't hold on to its spot forever, but from the mid-'60s, none of their ideas on how to take the next step had really panned out. The 1600 Fastback and Squareback did well, with 90,000-plus units a year in the late '60s, but was never followed up on; it did nearly as well in one year as the larger Type 411/412 had done over the course of its life here. The company never brought the K70, a conventionally styled, front-wheel-drive, piston-engined version of the notoriously unreliable NSU Ro80, to the States. Too big a leap for the company that made its name on small cars, perhaps. (If only they'd remembered that half a decade ago with the Phaeton....) And Project 266, which looked Golf/Rabbit-like in the early '70s but still had the engine in back, was killed during the ever-shifting administrations and behind-the-scenes power plays that wracked VW management. It delayed the Beetle's replacement by a couple of seasons while VW scrambled to go front-drive.

What to do? As it often does, VW looked inward--and set its sights on Audi, which was developing a junior version of their successful 100 sedan, called 80 (later sold here briefly as the Audi Fox). Internally, this was seen as a win-win: The car was already largely developed, with a longitudinal engine and front-wheel drive; VW's costs to whip up some new sheetmetal were minimal. (The Audis were proper sedans, while VWs had the fastback roofline.) Audi had a good reputation for build quality, so this wasn't a concern for VW as it might have been with the since-absorbed NSU. And Audi could spread development costs of the B1 platform around a little bit.

There are a number of firsts here with the Dasher. First front-drive car VW sold in America. First water-cooled VW on these shores. First one styled by Giugiaro, who would later go on to do the early Golf and Scirocco, among others. And (in the home market anyway, where it was called Passat) it was the first to be named for a category of wind. And, as VW would work toward in later decades, Dasher was the first move upmarket that really seemed to stick. It was a gamble. Would anyone want a more luxurious Volkswagen?

Two-door, four-door and wagon versions were available starting in 1974, though the fastback versions had trunks, rather than hatchbacks. Audi's 75hp, 1.5-liter four was pressed into service; fuel injection would later add a token few horsepower, while VW's 48hp diesel engine introduced in the late '70s was a popular late addition. Suspension seems old hat now, but it was remarkable for VW: MacPherson struts in front, with a coil-sprung solid axle at the rear. A four-speed transmission, power-assisted brakes, rack-and-pinion steering, bucket seats, full carpeting and decent ventilation were all fitted as standard. Australian magazine Wheels named the Passat its 1974 Car of the Year. By the time production finally trickled to a close in the late '80s, more than 1.8 million B1-platform VWs were built for worldwide consumption.

Yet here in the U.S., it fared only so-so. Dasher sold more than 37,000 units in 1974, quickly settling into a 20,000 to 25,000 unit per year rhythm, while the new Rabbit mostly made up for the Beetle's 150,000-unit year-to-year sales plunge from 1974 to '75. The scorching diesel variant lobbed Dasher back over the 30,000 mark again before the Dasher passed from our shores in 1981, to make room for the Quantum--a car that on an average year sold roughly half of what Dasher did on a slow one.

The B1 platform continued to be made in Nigeria and Brazil after the Dasher took a powder in the States and in Europe. In Brazil, the B1-generation Passat was built clear through 1988; as a result, it was able to take advantage of some of the B2-platform (Quantum) upgrades, like 1.6- and 1.8-liter engines and a five-speed transmission. A 1.8-liter GTS version in the later years of the model's life proved popular there. The B1 was also exported quite a bit, including many to Iraq, which explains why you see them turn up in news footage of the war every now and again.

It wasn't until the very late '90s that the Passat, now allowed this name worldwide, took off and did better than Dasher's numbers. Still, the Dasher paved the way for other front-drive, water-cooled, more luxurious VWs to take hold in the American marketplace.

This article originally appeared in the JANUARY 1, 2009 issue of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car.