Wolfsburg / Beijing, April 2014. It's a four-door coupé the like of which has never been seen before in this vehicle class: the New Midsize Coupé concept car. Volkswagen has brought the concept car to Beijing for its world premiere at Auto China 2014. The 'New' part goes without saying: the New Midsize Coupé is as new as a new car can be. 'Coupé' is also unambiguous: the New Midsize Coupé is low in height (1,422 mm) and very wide (1,838 mm), it has a low visual centre of gravity, short overhangs, muscular shoulders and side sections, a dynamic roof line with markedly swept-back C-pillars, a short boot lid and long bonnet. 'Midsize' is less obvious. It is normally the term for a car of the Passat class. However, the concept car is just 4,597 mm long and thus shorter than a Passat and shorter even than the Jetta. However, as mentioned the concept car outdoes the other two in terms of its width – and it is thus midsized. So clearly this concept car exhibits proportions of an extremely sporty nature. The team led by Volkswagen head designer Klaus Bischoff integrated these sharp proportions in a body design that makes the New Midsize Coupé a powerful and avant-garde proponent of a new, compact saloon class.

A saloon and a sports car. When viewed from the front and rear, it immediately becomes apparent that the designers have placed what is known as the “greenhouse”, the roof section with all windows, on a very muscular body frame. This strongly emphasises the powerfully modulated shoulder sections and large 20-inch wheels – which is a trait of high-class sports cars. The concept car is painted in “Dragon Red” colour; this brilliant red special effects paint is part of the total concept, because it highlights the powerful modulation of the body especially well. High-gloss black elements such as the roof surface with its integrated panoramic tilt/slide roof create a colour contrast.

Front end. The design team styled the front end to be very progressive. The designers shifted the visual centre of gravity downwards by special styling techniques. This has resulted in greater dynamism. As mentioned, the New Midsize Coupé is distinguished by a very long bonnet and a very short front overhang. These proportions were enabled by the Modular Transverse Matrix (MQB) by Volkswagen, and this innovative technical base opened up new possibilities for designers. The team led by Klaus Bischoff took full advantage of this and created an entirely new front-end concept with an avant-garde radiator grille, LED headlights in 3D look and a large lower air inlet with a unique and distinctive chrome signature that is based on Volkswagen design DNA.

Radiator grille and LED headlights. The radiator grille structure consists of three cross fins and the VW badge. The upper cross fin is painted in high-gloss black, while the lower two have a polished chrome look towards the front and are brushed aluminium towards the engine. The upper black cross fin makes the New Midsize Coupé appear even lower in front than it already is, while the bright chrome/aluminium fins emphasise its width. Between the cross fins, there are 36 compact modules, each with three small vertical fins that give the visual effect of hovering within the radiator grille. The radiator grille forms a stylistic unit together with the also newly designed LED headlights and LED daytime running lights that are integrated here – the forms of these elements merge together. Not only do the three cross fins continue into the headlight housings; so do the compact modules, each with three vertical fins. In the radiator grille, these modules perform a purely visual task. However, in the headlights they act as cooling elements for the LED headlights – “form follows function”. The LED unit itself also appears to visually hover within the headlight housing.