According to a new report, the Volkswagen Arteon could be facing its final stretch in the U.S. market.
It’s obviously no surprise that sedans — especially mainstream sedans — have lost their sway with buyers as crossovers continue to reshape the automotive landscape. We lost the Volkswagen Passat this year, for example. Now, the swanky and swoopy Arteon that replaced it as VW’s flagship may be on the way out as well, according to a recent Automotive News report. Their piece mentions the Arteon’s seemingly inevitable demise and what could very well replace it. The German automaker will remain in the sedan market, but we get the electric ID. Aero (shown earlier this summer) instead.
Really, it has not been that long since Volkswagen first launched the Arteon. It revealed the car as a replacement for the aging CC back in 2017. It never really caught on, though, despite the company’s repeated attempts to improve it. We saw a slight exterior facelift for 2021, as well as a power boost for 2022.
Despite those efforts, VW dealers managed to shift just 170 units in the first six months of 2022. One. Hundred. Seventy. That’s it. By contrast, they did actually move a (relatively) fair amount last year. At 5,537 units sold, 2021 was the best sales year yet for the Arteon. Even though it’s now out of production, 2,408 Passats still found their way off dealer lots in the first six months of 2022, beating the Arteon by 14 to 1.
Taking another look at the Volkswagen ID. Aero: Will it replace the Arteon?
AutoNews, for its part, says that the current Arteon will bow out sometime in 2024. That will give it a seven-year lifespan in the U.S. market, and lineup with the automaker’s next all-electric ID model, a four-door sedan. In concept form, the ID. Aero shown above packs a 77-kWh battery pack and should achieve somewhere above 300 miles of range (at least EPA standards, which tend to rate EVs lower than Europe’s WLTP cycle). It will also ride on the MEB platform, much like the ID.4 crossover, ID. Buzz van and overseas ID.3 hatchback.
The ID.Aero is set to launch in China next year, with Europe and North America to follow. If and when we see it, the sedan will likely have an alphanumeric name like the ID.7 (VW already pegged ID.6 for its larger SUV, and ID.5 for its sportback version of the ID.4).
If the latest report is accurate, will people actually go for VW’s sedan? After all, our market’s response to the Arteon was a strong “meh”, especially when you look at the sales figures. When is the last time you’ve actually seen an Arteon on the road? If you’re anything like me and don’t have a neighbor who actually bought one, it’s likely been a hot minute.
As always, we’ll have to wait and see. Volkswagen has not officially confirmed the Arteon’s demise yet, but if dealers close out the years with three-digit sales numbers…then it’s a pretty reasonable assumption.
