Volkswagen has always wanted a bit of the luxury car segment but how do you climb that mountain when your brand is commonly alluded to as the ”car of the people”. The VW Phaeton was meant to be an S Class rival and it was a great luxury car however it wasn’t the success VW intended it to be. Nevertheless VW plugged on with Phaeton production which began in 2002 and ended in 2016. The Phaeton’s biggest market was China and Korea, the rest of the world could never quite see past the ”car of the people” tag which hung around VW’s corporate neck like a ball and chain.   The Phaeton will survive but as a China only model but VW hasn’t given up on it’s luxury ambitions for the rest of the world. The new Arteon is in fact the new Passat based CC but clever marketing bods have given the CC a fancy new name to separate from the blue collar Passat family. Expect the Arteon to use the same engine lineup as the Passat and most likely carryover the same interior design language. No price or exact specification has been released, after all this is a teaser before the car is fully and officially revealed at the Geneva International Motor Show (9 to 19 March). Key design elements of the Arteon include a completely new front end, the LED headlights and daytime running lights merge with the chrome-plated crossbars of the radiator grille and the bonnet. The car’s shoulder section is another defining feature of its design, say VW. Equipment features making their debut in the Arteon include the latest generation of driver assistance systems. Among them, features that are typically reserved for luxury automobiles. Pricing has been estimated to start at £28k GBP.