AVANT-garde - according to the Oxford English Dictionary it means "New and Experimental", and it's certainly the buzzword for car makers at the moment.

A couple of days ago, Land Rover described its forthcoming new mid-sized SUV as "the avant-garde Range Rover" now Volkswagen has stepped up to the plate to describe its planned new fastback model as an "avant-garde grand turismo".

To be called the Arteon, the new model will be positioned above the Passat in VW's model line-up and will be shown for the first time at next month's Geneva Motor Show.

Volkswagen has released these fuzzy teaser shots of the front and rear of the newcomer, but other details are few and far between as yet.

However, VW says the Arteon will have a completely new front end, in which the LED headlights and daytime running lights merge with the chrome-plated crossbars of the radiator grille and the bonnet.

It will come with the latest generation of driver assistance systems including, according to VW, features that are typically reserved for luxury automobiles.

It could be some time before the Arteon goes into production, however, as it does not have type approval as yet.