The Volkswagen Passat is a family car built by Volkswagen AG ("VW"), produced in various forms since 1973. It falls between the Volkswagen Golf/Jetta and Phaeton in the current Volkswagen line-up, and is currently produced in Volkswagen's plants in Emden, and Mosel/Zwickau, Germany. Although normally known as the Passat in European and North American markets, it has been badged as a variety of other names including Dasher, Santana, Quantum, Magotan, Corsar and Carat in some markets during its life. Its name is German for trade wind. While the first generation Passat was a compact car/small family car, the second generation grew in size, and later Passats are mid-size cars/large family cars.

The Passat has always been one of Volkswagen's most important models, falling in the middle of the sedan/saloon market segment. 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. Indeed, the first Passat was developed directly from the Audi 80/Fox and, up until 2005, the two have shared a history. The new Passat allowed Volkswagen to compete more squarely with its European rivals than was possible with its product line consisting of old-fashioned rear-engined aircooled models.