High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A new version of the Volkswagen Passat, based on the Volkswagen Group B5 platform, was launched in 1996 in Europe, and 1997 in North America. Its PL45 platform was shared with the first-generation "Typ 8D" Audi A4, which was unveiled 2 years earlier, and saw a return to the Passat sharing its platform with Audi`s equivalent model for the first time since the second-generation (B2) Passat, which shared its platform with the second-generation "Typ 81" Audi 80/Audi 90 (the A4 is the successor to the Audi 80 line).