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Volkswagen Arteon, the Passat's Big Brother, Will Be Unveiled In Geneva

Volkswagen’s next product is called the Arteon, and it will be publicly unveiled at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show.
Volkswagen Arteon 13 photos
Photo: Volkswagen
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The German brand has officially confirmed that the Arteon is the Passat’s big brother, and it has specified that it will be placed in the mid-size class.

Make no mistake, the Arteon is not a replacement for the Phaeton, and Volkswagen has no intention of marketing it as such. Instead, the Arteon is a fastback that will be positioned above the Passat in the VW range.

In other words, the Arteon will be slightly more expensive than the Passat, and its top-of-the-line version will probably be pricey.

Its fastback body has four doors, and the interior could have only four seats, with a fifth available as an option. Volkswagen has applied this strategy in the past with the Passat CC, its previous attempt at a mid-sized model with an emotional design.

The Wolfsburg-based company has provided a sketch of the Arteon on its website, which was joined by two teaser images of the upcoming model.

It is important to note that this car strays from the design cues that are currently applied in the Volkswagen portfolio, and it includes a “merger” between the headlights and the radiator grille.

The entirely new front end for a Volkswagen model might not be replicated by its smaller brothers, which would give the Arteon a separate identity within the range. Volkswagen could cash in on this different look, which could be used to attract new clients to the brand.

Representatives of the German automaker have also announced that the Arteon will feature driver assistance systems and highlights that are “typically reserved for luxury automobiles.” Those elements, mated with a fresh design, could be Volkswagen’s golden ticket to attracting a new category of clients, which might have never bought a VW otherwise.

It will be interesting to see if that could affect the sales of Audi, another brand from the Volkswagen Group, which has sedans and fastbacks in the predicted price range of the new Arteon.

However, Volkswagen AG is a master at sharing platforms and having multiple models in the same segment across different brands without suffering from sales cannibalism.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
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Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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