Back in 2007, Volkswagen thought it would be a good idea to develop a large coupe with a heavily sloped roof. Some of you from way back then know it as the Passat CC, while more recently it has dropped the “Passat” name. Volkswagen had big ambitions for the CC, calling it a “sports sedan” and projecting sales of at least 300,000 over the first seven years of production. But, the CC is often overlooked and has performed very poorly. Fast forward to today and VW has released a sketch of its next new model, the Volkswagen Arteon, that will presumably replace the CC in Volkswagen’s lineup. VW has said very little as far as details go, but we know it will use a stretched version of the MQB platform, will have a fastback-like design, and is said to “emphasize emotionality in the upper mid-class.”
Alright, let me wipe VW’s PR juice from my lips real quick… Okay, now that we’re done with the marketing talk, let’s talk about practicality for a moment. If you take a look at the sketch provided by VW and the side profile of the current Volkswagen CC (currently out of production, by the way) you’ll see that the two models are very similar. Furthermore, there’s also some familiarity to the 2015 Volkswagen Coupe Concept GTE – a model that was said back then to be a successor of the CC. The sketch and the Sports Coupe Concept GTE also look like another model that we’ve seen before: The new Porsche Panamera. So, where VW has a chance to reinvent something in its current lineup that has experienced poor sales, the brand has decided to chop the roof a little, borrow some stuff from the Panamera’s parts bin, and come up with a new name for it, ultimately pushing it as a new model. It’s not very practical, now is it?
All of that aside, perhaps the Arteon will sell better than the CC just because it has updated looks and a roof that’s slung a little lower. It will make its world debut at the Geneva Auto Show and is expected to launch in the summer months of 2017. But, before that happens, let’s take a closer look at the sketch and the included video so we can talk a little more about it.
Continue reading to learn more about the Volkswagen Arteon.
from Top Speed http://ift.tt/2gDTAqO
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