Here is a information merchandise that slipped by means of the dragnet. We final wrote concerning the Volkswagen Arteon in September 2022, when the Automotive Information future product pipeline famous the OEM would kill the subtle sedan in 2024. Volkswagen included the four-door in its unique press launch concerning the 2024-model-year lineup, saying, “The Arteon is now accessible in SEL R-Line and SEL Premium R-Line trims, each with commonplace 4Motion® all-wheel drive. Arteon options solely minor beauty modifications for mannequin 12 months 2024. MSRP for the 2024 Arteon begins at $47,875, and vacation spot is $1,350.” Promoting simply two trims would have ended the bottom SE R-Line that is roughly $4,000 cheaper than the SEL R-Line. Then Carscoops found VW determined to drag the plug early, on the finish of manufacturing for the 2023 mannequin 12 months. A letter to sellers indicated, “Please observe that the Mannequin 12 months 2023 marks the tip of the Arteon manufacturing for the US market,” and VW scrubbed its earlier reference to the Arteon within the details about the 2024 lineup.
CarsDirect believes VW determined saving cash was extra essential than sticking to the timeline. U.S. Arteon gross sales rebounded over the past half of 2022 and in 2023, though that also solely amounted to 2,349 gross sales final 12 months, nearly precisely double the 2022 quantity. The Jetta offered 47,407 models in 2023, the Golf — restricted to GTI and Golf R — managed 10,690 gross sales.
The sedan model of the Arteon has been given the boot in its dwelling market as nicely, Volkswagen’s German web site exhibiting solely the Arteon Capturing Brake among the many wagon variants. The only real VW sedan on the market to locals is the brand new battery-electric ID.7, identified previously because the ID.Aero and the deliberate substitute for the Arteon and bygone Passat right here. The ID.7 is barely bigger than the Arteon, being 4 inches longer and taller, about half-inch narrower. It additionally presents extra passenger and cargo quantity then the correctly sedan-shaped Passat. European ID.7 specs in rear-wheel-drive type element an 82-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion pack, a brand new, oil-and water-cooled electrical motor referred to as AP550 rated at 282 horsepower and 402 pound-feet of torque, and a WLTP vary of 386 miles.
For the second, the Arteon stays on sale within the U.S. in all three trims, and since the 2024 did not make it right here, it is nonetheless being offered on the decrease 2023 pricing. After the $1,350 vacation spot cost, these costs are:
SE R-Line: $44,360
SEL R-Line: $48,530
SEL Premium R-Line: $51,425
When the final Arteons on seller tons are gone, they’re gone. We count on the ID.7 right here towards the tip of the 12 months as a 2025 mannequin, with pricing due nearer to launch, thought to start out round $50,000.
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