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A high-design estate derivative is on the cards for Volkswagen’s new flagship executive hatchback

Volkswagen will consider adding a pseudo-estate bodystyle to its new Arteon range if the car is as well received in European showrooms as it’s hoped, company sources have revealed.

The new Audi A5 Sportback-rivalling Arteon hatchback, which is expected in UK showrooms this October, will take Volkswagen into a part of the executive car market it hasn’t occupied since the Phaeton saloon was discontinued from UK sales in 2015.

It will launch with a choice of 276bhp 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol and 237bhp 2.0-litre turbodiesel engines, both of which will get 4Motion four-wheel drive and seven-speed DSG automatic gearboxes as standard. Volkswagen UK is yet to decide if any of the less powerful engine versions available elsewhere will be made available in the UK.

Pricing for the Arteon is expected to kick off at around £38,000.

Volkswagen Head of Product Line Elmar Licharz said: “It’s our intention to turn the Arteon into a model family. Right now, we have a proposal on the table for a stylish wagon version to compliment the hatchback. The car has not been confirmed for production yet, but it has a good chance.”

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Volkswagen hopes its new five-seater fastback will make a splash in the executive pool. Will the Arteon sink or swim?

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Matt Saunders

Matt Saunders Autocar
Title: Road test editor

As Autocar’s chief car tester and reviewer, it’s Matt’s job to ensure the quality, objectivity, relevance and rigour of the entirety of Autocar’s reviews output, as well contributing a great many detailed road tests, group tests and drive reviews himself.

Matt has been an Autocar staffer since the autumn of 2003, and has been lucky enough to work alongside some of the magazine’s best-known writers and contributors over that time. He served as staff writer, features editor, assistant editor and digital editor, before joining the road test desk in 2011.

Since then he’s driven, measured, lap-timed, figured, and reported on cars as varied as the Bugatti Veyron, Rolls-Royce PhantomTesla RoadsterAriel Hipercar, Tata Nano, McLaren SennaRenault Twizy and Toyota Mirai. Among his wider personal highlights of the job have been covering Sebastien Loeb’s record-breaking run at Pikes Peak in 2013; doing 190mph on derestricted German autobahn in a Brabus Rocket; and driving McLaren’s legendary ‘XP5’ F1 prototype. His own car is a trusty Mazda CX-5.