2009 Volkswagen CC

This is the wide-track Passat, Volkswagen's Bonneville to its everyday Chevy Belair of a Passat sedan. If you're too young to know what that means, all you need to know is that the Passat CC that made its debut at the Detroit show is VW's latest move upmarket, a sporty four-door coupe that bridges the gap between the Passat and the Europe-only Phaeton sedan and takes on the Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class (which is V-8-only in the U.S.). It will come with all kinds of sport/luxury features, but not the Phaeton's V-8 or W-12. Standard engine for the U.S. will be the GTI's 197-horsepower, 2.0-liter TSI turbo four, with front drive and six-speed manual or automatic. The 3.6-liter FSI V-6, rated 295 horsepower and with 4Motion all-wheel drive only, will come with a six-speed Tiptronic automatic. The TSI four will do 0-to-62 mph in 7.6 seconds; the V-6 will do it in 6.6, VW says.