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To the point: The all-new Volkswagen CC

The new Volkswagen CC made its debut last November at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Now, the European market launch of the avant-garde four-door begins with the international driving presentation in Southern France. The new Volkswagen CC will be on the market at the beginning of February, first in Germany and Luxembourg, then across Europe at the end of February. In spring 2012, this Volkswagen will then launch globally, including in America, Russia and Asia.

Retrospective. When the Volkswagen CC made its debut four years ago, it was the world's first four-door coupé in the 30,000 to 40,000 dollar and euro class. From this niche, a new segment quickly grew - to date, nearly 320,000 people around the globe have chosen the saloon with the stylish lines of a sports car. Private customers enjoy the alternative to the classic saloon as much as business customers who drive a lot of miles who made the Volkswagen CC the new 'business class' soon after it launched in early 2008. In parallel, the Volkswagen's styling also made an excellent impression with the experts: in 2009 alone - in its first full year on the market - the Passat CC won the 'iF Product Design Award' (iF Industrie Forum Hannover), the 'red dot Design Award' (Design Centre of Nordrhein Westphalia, Essen) and the Australian 'Design Award' (Australian International Design Awards, Sydney).

Design DNA. Standing still is a step backwards, which is why a team led by Volkswagen chief designer Klaus Bischoff is launching the CC into the future with completely redesigned front and rear sections, to give them more precision and adapt them to Volkswagen 'design DNA'. As a result, the car has an even more sophisticated and dynamic overall appearance.

Everything is on board. The extended range of standard equipment now includes such features as bi-xenon headlights with static cornering lights; a new LED rear lighting design; fatigue detection; RCD 310 radio-CD system; stainless steel door sill plates and front comfort head restraints with additional front-rear adjustment. In Germany, the multifunction leather-wrapped steering wheel is also standard. New assistance systems are now available on the Volkswagen CC as well. They include optional technologies such as Dynamic Light Assist (automatic main beam control) and a camera-based traffic sign detection system. Also available, for the first time on a Volkswagen, is Side Assist Plus including Lane Assist, which warns of vehicles in blind spots and supports the driver via steering intervention. Meanwhile, the optional climate seat with integrated massage function optimises comfort.

Six engines. The CC will be powered by innovative petrol and diesel direct-injection engines.  All of the diesels (TDI) are equipped with a Stop/Start system and battery regeneration mode (which recovers braking energy) as standard equipment. All petrol engines also have battery regeneration functionality. The TDI engines have outputs of 103 kW / 140 PS and 125 kW / 170 PS. The third turbodiesel to be offered in the Volkswagen CC is a BlueTDI which also has an output of 103 kW / 140 PS, and which is one of the few engines in the world that already meets the Euro-6 emissions standard that does not take effect until autumn 2014. The petrol engines of the European CC versions develop an impressive 118 kW / 160 PS, 155 kW / 210 PS and 220 kW / 300 PS of power.

DSG, 4MOTION, free-wheeling. All engines up to 210 PS may be paired with a dual clutch gearbox (DSG) as an option. In conjunction with the 103 kW TDI (manual gearbox version) and the 125 kW TDI (DSG version), the Volkswagen CC will also be offered with the optional 4MOTION all-wheel drive at a later time; the six-cylinder version (300 PS) will be delivered with DSG and 4MOTION all-wheel drive as standard equipment. The TDI engines with DSG also have a free-wheeling function, which decouples the engine as soon as the driver's foot leaves the accelerator pedal. All of the engines are designed to maximise efficiency. The 140 PS TDI is a prime example: in the standard version with a manual 6-speed gearbox, it consumes just 4.7 l/100 km (equivalent to 125 g/km CO2) - which is very little fuel for a long-range saloon that can travel at 214 km/h.

Notes:
TDI, TSI, DSG and Twincharger are registered trademarks of Volkswagen AG or other companies of the Volkswagen Group in Germany and other countries.

Photogallery Volkswagen CC