With more than 15 million sold and still counting, the mid-size Volkswagen Passat has been a perennial winner for its parent company through six generations, dating back to 1973. Now here’s generation seven, unveiled at the Paris show and due to go on sale in Europe in mid-November.

VW calls this “an entirely new Passat,” although its foundations are essentially the same as those of generation six. Still, the sheetmetal that adorns the two body styles—sedan and wagon—is all new: recognizably Passat but a little sleeker, its face brightened with a bevy of LED running lights.

This car features a number of technical upgrades, including fuel-saving engine stop/start tech, a fatigue-recognition system for the driver, and a very cool Easy Open trunk (on keyless-entry models) that pops open the decklid when the key-bearer passes their foot under a sensor mounted beneath the right side of the rear bumper. There is a choice, VW says, of 10 different engines globally: four gasoline, four turbo-diesel, one set up for natural gas, and one designed for E85 fuel.

It’s an appealing package. But if you’re one of the Passat’s U.S. loyalists, there’s bad news: It won’t be coming here. That’s because the Passat has moved steadily upscale, becoming pricey versus its many mid-size competitors in the U.S. market, but also because we’ll get the unnamed new VW mid-size sedan that will be built in the company’s new factory in Tennessee. Sized between the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, that sedan is aimed squarely at U.S. customers and shares little with the Passat, according to VW; it will be, naturally, less expensive. If that car turns out anything like the 2011 Jetta, it will be roomy but also softer, cheaper-feeling, and less fun to drive than we’ve come to expect of VWs. A shame, really.