Although we have to wait for it until 2016, the eighth-generation Volkswagen Passat->ke224 is ready to hit the roads in Germany, with the Euro-spec version being launched back in July 2014. Redesigned inside and out and dressed in a more stylish suit, the Passat no longer seems like the dull-looking people's car we got used to over the last few decades. The new Passat is gorgeous to look at, but what makes the eighth-gen vehicle a lot more special is that it is now available with a hybrid drivetrain.->ke147 Revealed in September, the Passat GTE is the first PHEV to wear the famed badge and borrows its powertrain components from the Golf GTE.

We already know everything there is to know about the Passat GTE, except some of the technical details Volkswagen has yet to unveil of course, and all we have to do is wait for a couple more years to find this plug-in hybrid in U.S. dealerships. Meanwhile, the Passat GTE is slated to hit European street in 2015 in both civilian and police guises. Yes, you read that correct, this German hybrid has just signed up for a police career in Heligoland, an archipelago of islands located in the North Sea.

As you might have already guessed, this is only an initial trial for the Passat GTE as a patrol car, with its duties to be extended should it complete its task successfully in the small archipelago that's home to roughly 1,100 people. While hiring hybrids for police duty isn't exactly a premier, it is indeed a first for the Passat, who now joins the fleet of Golf GTE plug-ins the same community received in the summer of 2014. Check out the full details below.

Click past the jump to read more about the Volkswagen Passat GTE Police Car.

Exterior

Already equipped with a handful of styling features that set it apart from its regular sibling -- including a chrome grille, a blue stripe across the nose, and a charging socket -- this particular Passat GTE is also dressed up in the German police's blue-and-silver livery. Both the sedans and the wagons are finished in silver, with blue stripes adorning the sides and the tailgate. The hood is almost completely wrapped in a blue decal. Naturally, the vehicles are fitted with police-specific lightbars on their roofs.

Interior

The GTE's interior remained mostly untouched save for a few minor modifications required by police-duty cars. Specifically, gun racks have been fitted in the passenger-side door panel and a modern digital radio has been connected to the car's infotainment system. It seems the wagon's additional cargo room will be used to transport police equipment such as warning lights and traffic cones.

Drivetrain

Naturally, the police car is equipped with the same drivetrain as the civilian version. The hybrid thus packs a turbocharged, 1.4-liter, four-cylinder engine working on gasoline and generating 154 horsepower and an electric motor that routes 114 ponies to the front wheels through the company’s familiar six-speed DSG. The total output sits at 215 horses and 295 pound-feet of torque, allowing the Passat GTE to accelerate from naught to 62 in less than eight seconds. Both the sedan and the wagon can reach a top speed of 136 mph in hybrid mode. The figure drops to only 80 mph in E-Mode, in which only the electric motor spins the wheels.

The vehicle can travel 31 miles on batteries alone, but it's the combined range that makes the Passat GTE an impressive machine. When both the gasoline engine and the electric motor are being used, the German car can travel for up to 622 miles without refueling, making it the most fuel efficient vehicle to serve the German police force as of 2015.

Conclusion

Hybrid police cars are nothing new, as police departments the world over have embarked on a mission to reduce the fuel consumption and carbon footprints of their fleets. Japan is currently using Lexus and Toyota hybrids, the British police have bought a fleet of Vauxhall-badged Chevy Volts, while the NYPD, for instance, uses a host of Ford Fusion Hybrid sedans.

Now it's Germany's turn to add PHEVs to its lineup of police cars, albeit the Passat GTE is more of a trial car in a very small community. That's likely to change if the GTE proves its usefulness, and knowing the Passat's reliability and the hybrid's impressive range, it won't be long until these PHEV sedans and wagons become the norm in larger German cities.