FOR a car maker which has always seemed to know exactly where it is heading, Germany's VW conglomerate seems to be out of control, racing around in all directions like a headless chicken.

The multi-brand organisation VW, Audi, Skoda, Seat, and now Bentley is playing a puzzling game: throw all the keys into a melting pot and see what mixed-up creation comes out next. The collection is becoming more confused by the week.

VW's upmarket brand Audi is still riding high among other posh names like Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar and Japan's Lexus.

But the German giant seems determined to create confusion among its other marques.

While Audi's celebrated 'quattro' brand features strongly among its A4 and A6 saloons and Avant 'lifestyle' estates, Volkswagen has now announced its own 'luxury' offroader called the Touareg (no, that's not a spelling mistake). VW says it will compete with the Mercedes M-class and BMW X5 (but not the Audi?).

The Touareg will go on sale here in summer 2003, soon after another new VW, a luxury saloon called the Phaeton.

The latest offering with the VW badge is a Passat, a mid-range saloon which you might regard as a repmobile, a little more exclusive than a Mondeo or Vectra. But this Passat W8 which we drive today on page 11 is a supercar with a superbly smooth and powerful 4.0-litre W8 engine.

That's a double bank of V4s to keep things tidier under the bonnet but provide tremendous performance.

As a further attraction, it has four-wheel drive. And with a £31,000 price tag, it's clearly in the supercar bracket.

That, you might think, is a very different animal from a Skoda. The former Czech brand has travelled a long way on the road to respectability since VW took it into its fold around a decade ago, but it remains the group's low-price catalogue, and there's nothing wrong with that. There's always a market for lower-priced cars.

But Skoda, believe it or not, now wants to be seen as posher, and has come up with a luxury car of its own the modestly named Superb.

Ironically, the mainstream Volkswagen started out as a down-to-earth 'people's car' before the war, but it has grown up into a well-respected and impressive marque. Its range of models Polo, Golf, Bora, Passat, Sharan people carrier, little Lupo, plus the revived Beetle are all cars which any family would be proud to own impressive marque.

Audi is the upmarket stuff for company bosses who don't want a dull, old man's Merc or a predictable BMW.

Then there's VW's most recent acquisition, the Spanish Seat. It has nominated this as its sporting brand, taking basic VW models and giving them a sporting treatment.

The idea's fine, but the message hasn't quite got through to the motoring public. What it really needs is a bit of clear publicity to make the Seat's sporty role better recognised.

So that's sorted, then.

But VW won't rest until it has thrown everything up in the air, it seems.

The top marque Audi is not satisfied to live in limo-land. It wants to appeal in other sectors. So we have the small A3 hatchback an understandable addition, aimed at customers who want Audi kudos wrapped up in a handier-size package.

But then comes the quirky A2, Audi's 'mini' which looks more like a bug from some sci-fi movie. Not really what we expect from Audi.

And now we find that Audi territory is under threat from not only VW's latest W8 but also the new Skoda Superb.

A posh Skoda is a contradiction in terms.

True, the badge has certainly gained credibility since it became part of VW the marque's successes in the recent Auto Express survey prove that.

But let's not go overboard. When you can buy a small Jag for under £20,000, why would anyone with £24,000 to spend choose a Skoda?