The order books are open for Volkswagen’s all-new flagship model which is priced from £34,305.

It’s called the Arteon and the sleek coupe sits above the Passat in the VW line-up. It has room for five adults and, according to VW, offers best-in-class legroom of 1,016 mm, along with a luggage capacity of 563 litres with the rear seats in place, rising to 1,557 litres when the rear seats are folded.

At launch, the Arteon range will feature three turbo-charged direct injection engines – a 280bhp 2.0 TSI petrol and two 2.0 TDI diesel engines with outputs of 150bhp and 240bhp.

A little further down the line, additional engines will complete the range including Volkswagen’s newly designed 150bhp 1.5 TSI Evo unit, featuring economy-boosting cylinder deactivation technology, and a 190bhp 2.0 TSI.

All the transversely mounted four cylinder engines can be combined with an automated DSG dual clutch seven-speed gearbox while the most potent units feature Volkswagen 4MOTION all-wheel drive as standard.

As far as performance and economy is concerned, the Arteon will sprint from 0-62mph in 5.4 seconds in 2.0 TSI 280bhp guise, while the 2.0 TDI 150bhp-equipped Arteon will offer 62.8 mpg in the EU’s official combined fuel economy measure.

The car is offered in two trim levels called Elegance or R-Line, and among the many highlights are the latest Discover navigation system with eight-inch colour touchscreen, eight-speaker sound system, Bluetooth audio and telephone connectivity and Volkswagen Media Control which allows remote control of the infotainment system via compatible smartphone or tablet device.

Assistance systems in every Arteon include city emergency braking, front assist, speed assist, adaptive cruise control with predictive cruise control,  traffic jam assist, lane assist and a driver alert fatigue warning system.

Volkswagen head of marketing in the UK, Geraldine Ingham says: “We are very excited to make the stunning new Arteon available to UK customers.

“This new flagship model represents a significant step forward in design, technology and, indeed, aspiration and we are confident that the Arteon will more than meet the high expectations of our customers.”

“With a selection of engines available to order now – and more engine options on the way – we are also looking forward to seeing the Arteon make inroads into the important fleet sector in due course.”

The Arteon will be in showrooms from next month.