Volkswagen’s CC marks the brand’s first crack at a so-called “four-door coupe,” the increasingly ubiquitous more-stylish-than-a-sedan sedan format, and the model is, well, old. Introduced in 2008, the CC is long overdue for replacement. That’s coming next year, along with a name change to Arteon. So far Volkswagen has released only a handful of design sketches depicting the Arteon and promised that we’ll see the car at the 2017 Geneva auto show. But we have exclusive illustrations of what the production model will look like.
In keeping with the CC, the Arteon is lower and appears longer than Volkswagen’s similar-size mainstream Passat sedan. Our illustration, which incorporates elements from VW’s published design sketches, shows the Arteon with an attractive full-width grille that blends into the headlights, subtly aggressive air intakes, and muscular fender bulges front and rear. While the CC was a sedan—complete with a tiny trunk opening thanks to its steeply raked rear window—the Arteon will be a hatchback, which not only allows for a more useful cargo opening but also an even sleeker profile. The roofline flows nearly uninterrupted down past the taillights to the rear bumper, with an elegant ducktail spoiler giving the look some structure. An optional glass roof is surely on the table, and one is included in these illustrations.
The powerful haunches over the rear wheels are purely aesthetic. The Arteon will be front-wheel drive, likely with all-wheel drive as an option, just like the CC. Also like the CC, which was built off the Passat’s bones back when the U.S. version of that sedan was the same as its Europe-market sibling (today’s U.S.-built Passat is unique to our market), the Arteon will be Passat based. The good news is that Volkswagen is bypassing today’s U.S.-market Passat for the upcoming next-generation Euro-market Passat. So the Arteon will use a stretched variant of the same high-quality MQB platform that sits beneath the 10Best-winning Golf lineup, as well as a host of premium Volkswagen Group products the world over.
A four-cylinder turbocharged gas engine is a shoo-in for the U.S.-market Arteon, as well as VW’s dual-clutch automatic transmission. It is doubtful that VW will offer a stick-shift option as it did with the CC, given the Arteon’s more premium positioning than even that model. (The name Arteon is a combination, we’re told, of the words “art” and “eon,” the latter being VW-ese for its upmarket models.) Pricing should start in the low- to mid-$30,000 space, in similar territory to Toyota’s Avalon, Nissan’s Maxima, and entry-luxury cars such as the Acura TLX.
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