We’re going to wager you don’t often think of the words “Passat” and “GT” together in the same sentence too often, unless your military buddy who works in General Technical rocks a VW sedan as his daily whip.

You will now, though, as Volkswagen plans to introduce a production model of a concept car it showed at the L.A. Auto Show. Under the hood? A VR6 engine, displacing 3.6 liters and making 280 horsepower.

Borne out of feedback from American customers and dealers, the Passat GT adds to the Passat lineup for model year 2018, which currently ranges from a $22,995 base model S up to a $31,650 Premium trim. The GT will be priced at $29,090 sans destination.

The Passat GT’s VR6 makes its 280 horsepower at 6,200 rpm while 258 lb-ft of torque comes on tap as early as 2,500 rpm. In a fit of practicality, VW says it achieves this numbers on regular fuel. EPA-estimated fuel economy is 19 mpg city and 28 mpg highway. Shifting is handled by a six-speed dual-clutch automatic with steering wheel-mounted flappy paddle shifters.

The car is intended as a limited-run special model based off the R-Line trim. It will be available in any color you want so long as it’s on the greyscale — Pure White, Reflex Silver, Platinum Grey, and Deep Black will be offered. Up front, standard LED peepers will light the way, along with an R-Line honeycomb grille and red accent line recalling the GTI.

VW hits all Passat GTs with a dose of black paint on the roof, mirror caps, window tri, and spoiler. Natty red brake calipers peek out from behind two-tone rims measuring 19 inches in size. Sharp-eyed fans will also be able to pick out a GT in traffic by dint of its blacked-out LED tails and twin-tipped exhaust. An “acoustic package” is mentioned, which could mean either an exhaust tuned for more brap or a computer program tuned for more noise through the speakers. We hope it’s the former.

Customers of fancy-pants trims in the VW line will find a lot familiar inside the Passat GT, with a leather-wrapped wheel, heated front seats, and dual-zone climate control. The expected phalanx of infotainment options will be on tap, along with twin USB ports (one for rear seat passengers) which is worth noting since VW was a bit late to jump on the USB bandwagon.

Passat sales were off by double-digit amounts in 2017, to 60,722 cars sold last year. Still, it’s no slouch in the VW lineup, as that figure is only a few thousand off the number recorded by the entire Golf family in 2017. The Jetta sedan sold 115,807 units and the brand as a whole was up 5.2 percent compared to 2016.

Expect to see the Passat GT at next week’s NAIAS event in Detroit. It’ll pop up on dealer lots sometime in the second quarter of 2018.

[Images: Volkswagen of America]