• The Volkswagen Arteon will be discontinued globally, the company confirmed this week.
• In Canada the Arteon hasn't been offered since 2021. Now it's being pulled everywhere.
The decision by Volkswagen to discontinue its Arteon sedan in global markets surprises exactly no one. Sales of the sedan have been miserly, and the automaker is accelerating its shift towards electric vehicles. To wit, it is preparing to launch onto the market the all-electric ID.7, the natural replacement for the ICE Arteon.
The move also fits into Volkswagen’s efforts to streamline its product line and offerings. One focus is to trim low-volume models from the lineup, another is to simplify the offerings of those models that are part of the lineup going forward.
The ID.7 thus has a far leaner offering, with virtually no options included – 99 percent fewer than the current Golf, for example.
“We will focus on a small number of—though genuine—Volkswagen core models. This will reduce complexity and deliver higher profits.”
- Volkswagen brand head Thomas Schäfer
The point here is to gain savings across the brand lineup so as not to cut jobs or wages at its plants and offices. The company’s goal, as announced by Schäfer during a meeting with union heads in Germany, is to improve earnings by 10 billion euros (or about $14.5 billion CAD) and increase return on sales to 6.5 percent by 2026.
Volkswagen hasn’t said when exactly it will stop offering the Arteon sedan, but our guess that will coincide with the start of production of the ID.7 EV late this year. However, a company spokesperson did confirm there will be a 2024 model-year Arteon.
We also don’t know which other models might be candidates to be trimmed, but that might not be the most noticeable change coming to VW buyers’ attention. The company plans to pare down the offerings of many of its models, eliminating trims and options.
We can further expect more cross-pollination of platforms across the brands owned by the Volkswagen Group, although this will likely be more noticeable in Europe than in North America.