The Volkswagen Arteon is no longer being produced in Germany, at least not in its familiar liftback form.
According to automotive news site Motor1, the Volkswagen Arteon is no longer being produced at the Emden plant as of 2024, at least not in the familiar liftback style we get in Malaysia. The same manufacturing site continues to assemble the Arteon Shooting Brake for Europe, but the liftback version that gets sold in most parts of the world is no longer available, following the same fate as the Passat in Europe.
Volskwagen intends to eventually replace both the Arteon and Passat sedan with the recently revealed ID.7 liftback, which is all-electric. The Arteon’s demise after just one generation is unfortunate but follows an unbroken trend in Volkswagen’s history – the brand simply can’t make a business case out of expensive vehicles no matter how impressive the product is. The Phaeton was one example of this in the extreme.
That being said, the end of the Arteon may not have been solely due to poor sales but a shift towards electrification for VW. The Arteon managed to find more than 19,000 new customers worldwide every year it was on sale save 2017 and 2020. Those two years were exceptional as well – one being its first year of sale and the other being the year of the pandemic.
Fate of the Volkswagen Arteon in Malaysia
The Volkswagen Passat was taken off the official website around May 2023, ending a 10-year long legacy of both success and failure for the brand. The Volkswagen Arteon continues the legacy of the Passat CC, later known as the CC but is for the first time locally-assembled in Malaysia. It is currently still listed on the official website. It is unclear if the CKD kits are going to keep coming now that Emden’s production of the Arteon has come to a stop.
The Arteon was given a technical update with IQ.Drive around the time Volkswagen globally announced plans to axe the model. Now priced at RM299,990, the Arteon goes up against the BMW 330i M Sport without having quite the same brand clout. That being said it does offer all-wheel drive and a host of other tech features not to mention loads of power. Unfortunately, both of these German ICE vehicles are facing stiff competition from a host of untaxed electric vehicles like the Tesla Model 3 and the upcoming BYD Seal.
