First seen at last year's Tokyo Auto Show, the new VW Passat Alltrack is now available for order in select markets around Europe.

We revisit it today because the German automaker has seen fit to afford us with a new crop of images that show the high-ridding estate model in a different light.

The Audi A4 Allroad's more economical cousin gets all the usual bells and whistles expected from an estate model turned into a soft-roader.

Volkswagen is taking platform sharing to the next level with its brand-new Modular Transverse Matrix (MQB) vehicle architecture that is flexible enough to be used in some 60 different models ranging in size from the VW Polo and Seat Ibiza to the next generations of the Audi TT sports car and the VW Passat.

We'll have the chance to see the first application of the MQB platform with the new Audi A3 hatch at next month's Geneva Auto Salon followed by the Mk7 VW Golf at the Paris Motor Show in September.

As evidenced by these spy photos, the German automaker has also began developing the MQB platform for the next iteration of the global Volkswagen Passat codenamed B8 (not to be confused with the North American market model) that is due in 2014.

The vehicle seen in these pictures is a test mule, meaning that VW's engineers have placed the body of a current Passat Estate on top of the new MQB platform, which features wider front and rear tracks.

On the occasion of the European press launch of the facelifted CC in Southern France this week, Volkswagen released a fresh batch of pictures and videos of its mid-size model.

The CC, which made its world premiere at the Los Angeles Auto Show last November, will first go on sale in Germany and Luxembourg in the beginning of February, followed by the rest of Europe at the end of the same month, and then globally, including America, Russia and Asia in spring 2012.

A couple of days ago, Volkswagen announced that in 2011, it sold 324,402 vehicles in the U.S., which amounts to a 26.3 percent increase compared to 2010 recording the brand’s best result since 2002.

On Friday, the German brand issued another press release revealing that it delivered 5.1 million vehicles worldwide, exceeding 5 million annual sales for the first time in its history and recording an impressive 13.1 percent increase over 2010 when it sold 4.5 million units.

The year that ended a few days ago was a positive one for the Volkswagen brand, which reported U.S. sales of 324,402 units that represents a 26.3 percent increase over 2010 and marks its best year in sales since 2002.

The company's December sales in the States totaled 32,502 vehicles, up 36.2 percent over the same month in 2010. VW noted that it was its best December since 1972.

Consumer Reports has just announced its latest test results. This time, the nonprofit organization put two brand-new, family sedans under its microscope – and while the one came up trumps, the other was a mixed bag.

Starting with the new 2012 Toyota Camry, Consumer Reports tested three different models with a four-cylinder, a V6 and a Hybrid engine, all of which ranked amongst the best in their class.

As the magazines notes, compared to the model it replaces, the new Camry has a plusher interior, more responsive handling, improved ride and better fuel economy, with only the increased road noise and some cheap details tainting the overall picture.

In fact, while the 173HP 2.5-liter four-cylinder version ties with the Hyundai Sonata for best-in-class fuel consumption delivering 27 mpg (8.7 lt/100 km), the more powerful 268HP 3.5-liter V6 is just a smidgen more thirsty and, at 26 mpg (9.0 lt/100 km), beats most four-cylinder rivals.

For the past 18 years, a committee of journalists from U.S. and Canadian magazines, radio and TV stations, websites and newspapers meet once a year and vote for the North American Car and Truck of the Year [NACTOY].

You'll have to wait until January to find the winners for the 2012 edition of the North American Car and Truck of the Year, but the three finalists for each category were announced on Thursday in Detroit.

The VW Group, and more specifically Audi, was the one that started the high-riding estate craze with its A6 Allroad in 1999. Based on the regular A6 Avant, the Allroad featured an all-wheel drive quattro system, higher ground clearance, an adjustable-height air suspension, all-terrain tires and flared fenders, gaining a more adventurous appearance.

Now, Volkswagen has released the first-ever crossroad version of its Passat mid-size model, named the Passat Alltrack. It will receive its world premiere at the Tokyo Motor Show on December 3 and will go on sale in early 2012.

A successful recipe is not meddled with, so the (European) Passat Estate-based Alltrack has all the goods one expects in the segment: raised suspension height, stainless steel-look front and rear underbody protection panels and plastic covered wheel arches that house 18-inch alloys.

Credibility is like virginity: once you lose it, you never get it back. Therefore, motoring journalists try to be as objective as possible (well, most of them, anyway) and report all their findings, good or bad alike when they take a car for a test drive.

However, Consumer Reports [CR], asks a rather intriguing question concerning this issue: are the press cars driven by motoring journalists the same as the ones bought by the public?

It's true that, despite quality control, two cars of the exact same make, model and specification that roll out of the same plant may differ in certain aspects such as fit and finish or actual engine output by a few ponies, but those differences are most of the times imperceptible to the human eye.

Earlier this summer, Volkswagen gave Consumer Reports a 2012 Passat from its press fleet for a first drive. CR's Jon Linkov noticed at the time that, unlike the Jetta, the U.S.-built 2012 Passat sedan's trunk hinges were dressed up in plastic.

With such a large arsenal of turbocharged gasoline engines in all sorts of sizes and states of tune, one could only wonder why Volkswagen is still holding on to the naturally aspirated 2.5-liter inline-five in the States – especially since even GM and Ford have gone ahead and introduced smaller displacement force-fed fours.

It appears that VW also believes it's time to replace the old-school five-pot with a more modern turbocharged four. Citing two sources from within the German company, Car&Driver reports that the 2.5L unit will soon be dropped from Volkswagen's U.S. range with a new 1.8-liter TSI four-cylinder engine taking its place.

What’s in a name? Not much, according to William Shakespeare who in Romeo and Juliet, wrote, “A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet”.

Apparently, Volkswagen does not feel the same way. That is why when the time came to freshen up its four-year old Passat CC sports saloon, it chose to delete the “Passat” moniker from its name in order to signal its upmarket move and severe any ties with the mid-size family sedan.

To reinforce its point, VW has made some changes to the styling of the 2013 CC that made its world debut this week at the LA Motor Show.

Some four years and 270,000 sales worldwide after the launch of the Volkswagen Passat's flashy four-door coupe sibling, it's time for the CC to receive its first mid-life makeover.

Set to make its world debut at the upcoming 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show later this month, the 2013 Volkswagen Passat packs some select visual scrub ups to bring it up to date with the German brand's more recent offerings.

You can spot the new model by the redesigned front that gets a new chrome-trimmed grille, reshaped headlamps that incorporate a ring of LEDs and a reworked bumper.

European customers now have new choices when it comes to Volkswagen's Polo supermini and the Passat as the German brand is expanding its customization program for the two aforementioned models.

For the Polo, Volkswagen has introduced two R-Line styling packages. The first is the R-Line Exterior package that is available as an option for the Polo Comfortline (€1,450) and the Polo Highline (€1,010).

Next up on our international motorshow calendar is the Los Angeles Auto Show that will be open to the public from November 18 to 27. The event organizers say that at least 17 world premieres have already been confirmed, with more to be announced in the coming weeks.

Among the new cars to debut in LA will be two Volkswagen models. According to a report from Kicking Tires, Volkswagen made the announcement on Wednesday but didn't name the new vehicles simply stating that both will be production cars.

Volkswagen is trying its best to associate the new U.S. built 2012 Passat with both the big (cinema) and small (television) screen.

Following up on its mini Darth Vader parody, das Germans have now joined forces with FX and its sitcom, "The League", for a sketch-like ad called "Win At All Costs: Naked Truth".

The spot, which is more than two minutes long, shows Stephen Rannazzisi as Kevin and Katie Aselton as Jenny playing out a humorous sketch about winning and losing bets. Hit the jump to check it out.

Last Monday, Tennessee Arts Commission Chairwoman Ellen Hays received her new car. So what’s the big deal, we hear some of you ask? Thousands of people do the exact same thing every day.

What makes Ms. Hays case special is the fact that, although she wasn’t the first in the country (this distinction belongs to a man in San Jose, California), she was the first local to receive a new Passat built at VW’s newly constructed US Chattanooga plant.

In an attempt to sell more Zubehör (accessories) to its international customer base, Volkswagen’s German arm created a web campaign based around the concept of “Business class for all”.

The TV ad, which you can watch in full below, features a woman dressed in 1960s air hostess stewardess flight attendant attire and a host of accessories now available for the 2012 Volkswagen Passat.