Volkswagen Arteon dies a year early, with end of 2023 production

Here's a news item that slipped through the dragnet. We last wrote about the Volkswagen Arteon in September 2022, when the Automotive News future product pipeline noted the OEM would kill the sophisticated sedan in 2024. Volkswagen included the four-door in its original press release about the 2024-model-year lineup, saying, "The Arteon is now available in SEL R-Line and SEL Premium R-Line trims, both with standard 4Motion® all-wheel drive. Arteon features only minor cosmetic changes for model year 2024. MSRP for the 2024 Arteon starts at $47,875, and destination is $1,350." Selling just two trims would have ended the base SE R-Line that's roughly $4,000 less expensive than the SEL R-Line. Then Carscoops discovered VW decided to pull the plug early, at the end of production for the 2023 model year. A letter to dealers indicated, "Please note that the Model Year 2023 marks the end of the Arteon production for the US market," and VW scrubbed its earlier reference to the Arteon in the information about the 2024 lineup.

CarsDirect believes VW decided saving money was more important than sticking to the timeline. U.S. Arteon sales rebounded over the last half of 2022 and in 2023, although that still only amounted to 2,349 sales last year, almost exactly double the 2022 number. The Jetta sold 47,407 units in 2023, the Golf — limited to GTI and Golf R — managed 10,690 sales.  

The sedan version of the Arteon has been given the boot in its home market as well, Volkswagen's German site showing only the Arteon Shooting Brake among the wagon variants. The sole VW sedan for sale to locals is the new battery-electric ID.7, known formerly as the ID.Aero and the planned replacement for the Arteon and bygone Passat here. The ID.7 is slightly larger than the Arteon, being four inches longer and taller, about half-inch narrower. It also offers more passenger and cargo volume then the properly sedan-shaped Passat. European ID.7 specs in rear-wheel-drive form detail an 82-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion pack, a new, oil-and water-cooled electric motor called AP550 rated at 282 horsepower and 402 pound-feet of torque, and a WLTP range of 386 miles. 

For the moment, the Arteon remains on sale in the U.S. in all three trims, and because the 2024 didn't make it here, it's still being sold at the lower 2023 pricing. After the $1,350 destination charge, those prices are:

• SE R-Line: $44,360
• SEL R-Line: $48,530
• SEL Premium R-Line: $51,425

When the last Arteons on dealer lots are gone, they're gone. We expect the ID.7 here toward the end of the year as a 2025 model, with pricing due closer to launch, thought to start around $50,000. 

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