VW suggests end of Arteon production is nigh

Low volume models out and big sellers in as VW aims for more profit

By Matt Bird / Wednesday, 14 June 2023 / Loading comments

It was kind of inevitable, really. VW wants a return on sales of 6.5 per cent ‘to safeguard investments in future technologies and jobs’. The Arteon doesn’t sell in huge numbers anyway. The ID 7 is coming as the electric sort-of replacement. Saloons and estates don’t look like making a comeback anytime soon. So it sounds like the VW Arteon is being discontinued at some point soon. Shame.

The press release that was issued today read 'Volkswagen intends to focus more on volume models. Lower-volume models like the VW Arteon will be discontinued,' and carried on to quote CEO Thomas Schafer, who said “We will focus on a small number of – though genuine – Volkswagen core models. This will reduce complexity and deliver higher profits”. So the four-door fastback looks like it'll be one of the first to go. Which it’s hard to take too much issue with, especially with so many ID cars having already sold. And with VW’s history of small selling niche busters - think T-Roc Convertible. But nobody wants to see product line ups having to be slashed, especially when it means cars as stylish as the Arteon being replaced by cars like the ID 7.

Given today’s announcement, and how close the ID 7 is to showrooms, it would have to be assumed that the end for the Arteon must be sooner rather than later. It must surely be a case of existing orders being fulfilled and that being that; even as fans of the car, there’s not going to be a queue around the block of folk desperate to seize their last chance to buy an Arteon.

Still, if now is the time, there’s plenty available secondhand, six years on sale meaning - if not exactly Golf common - then they aren’t thin on the ground either. The R has always appealed for its combination of design, practicality and 320hp performance; it's available as the regular five-door or as a Shooting Brake, the latter an especially nice way to whisk the family about. It’s even available in colours that aren’t blue. Perhaps the canniest Arteon buys, however, if very rare ones in a small-selling range, are the 2.0 TSIs. 280hp, a DSG and all-wheel drive meant 0-62mph in less than six seconds, the styling was super subtle and - best of all - they still have good VW interiors. Get those back in the core models and that path to 10 billion more euros by 2026 will be a breeze.