Volkswagen Is Hunting BMW And Mercedes With A New Premium Four-Door Coupe

Volkswagen is going upmarket again, but rather than replace the ill-fated Phaeton directly, the new Arteon is going to sit just a little above the Passat.

That potentially puts it in direct competition with the Volkswagen Group’s own Audi A7, as well as rivals from BMW and Mercedes.

Three months before the covers come off at the Geneva Motor Show, Volkswagen has sent out a teaser drawing of the four-door coupé. It looks reminiscent of the CC, formerly the Passat CC, but with even sleeker lines befitting a concept car.

That said, it also looks pretty close to a production-ready design. Let’s hope the name doesn’t stick, though. It’s a bit pretentious. It’s a conjunction of ‘art’, because it’s fit to hang in any gallery, obviously, and ‘eon’, which is Volkswagen’s recently-adopted suffix indicating a special premium model.

We don’t yet know whether the Arteon, or whatever it ends up being called, will be sold in Europe or the US but it’s almost guaranteed to go to China. It’s also likely to use hybrid and electric power as well as internal combustion.