Arteon

Make
Volkswagen
Segment
Sedan

After several delays, the 2019 Volkswagen Arteon is finally arriving in US dealerships, representing the start of a bold new design direction for the German automaker's future cars. To celebrate, VW has revealed nine interesting facts about its new flagship sedan.

Scheduled to arrive in America this Spring, it's taken three-and-a-half years for the Arteon to progress from initial discussions to final production. According to VW, the Arteon name is taken from the Latin word for art (Artem) alluding to its sleek design, with features such as chrome strips on the frameless side windows and a wraparound grille helping the four-door coupe stand out from the crowd. With a wheelbase that's nearly 112 inches long, drivers and passengers also have more space than many other fastback-style vehicles. While rear occupants in fastback cars can often feel cramped, the Arteon has space for rear-seat passengers to lean back, cross their legs, and relax.

To create the Arteon's low, coupe-like silhouette, the Volkswagen design team drew inspiration from nature. In particular, designers "looked to imitate the streamlined and athletic profile of predators, including sharks".

The Arteon also features a unique lighting architecture, with the grille and headlights weaving together into a seamless unit. Apparently, this feature wowed the engineering team when designers first presented it.

Inside, you get a 27-cubic-foot trunk that provides cargo space exceeding that of most sedans, as folding down the rear seat provides a total of 55 cubic feet of cargo room. The standard DCC adaptive chassis control feature of the Arteon allows drivers to configure the vehicle's running gear for "normal," "comfort," or "sport" driving. As the names suggest, comfort mode helps even out bumpy rides, while the sport mode helps stiffen damping to "create a more direct connection between the driver and the road".

As standard, the Arteon offers a host of Driver Assistance features, including Forward Collision Warning and Autonomous Emergency Braking, Blind Spot Monitoring with Rear Traffic Alert, and standard Automatic Post-Collision Braking. Available features include Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Assist, Light Assist, Park Assist, and Park Distance Control.

If you want to give the four-door coupe a bolder look, the Arteon is also available with the R-Line package that gives the car a sportier interior and dynamic exterior treatments. It will be available when the Arteon goes on sale this spring. Pricing for the Volkswagen Arteon starts at $35,845.