In 2020, it was reported that VW will drop the VW Passat sedan and the coupe-like VW Arteon from its line-up. The news about the Passat has come to pass and VW brand CEO Thomas Schäfer confirmed yesterday that the Arteon will not be replaced.

Speaking at the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany yesterday to announce the global “ACCELERATE FORWARD | Road to 6.5” program to achieve greater efficiency and higher profits at lower cost, Schäfer said:

“The program is the number one priority for the entire Board of Management. We must build new strength for the Volkswagen brand and position it robustly for future growth, which is why we are now getting an enormous concerted effort off the ground. We need to achieve a sustainable return on sales of 6.5 percent in the Volkswagen brand. Achieving this in 2026 is very ambitious, but feasible if we pool our efforts. This will enable us to safeguard jobs, finance our future from our own resources and continue to invest in new vehicles and technologies, in the modernization of our plants and in staff training.”

Also read: The current VW Passat sedan and Arteon will be the last

Achieving this will also mean cutting low volume, unprofitable models. Schäfer singled out the VW Arteon as an example of low volume models to be cut, explaining that Volkswagen intends to focus more on volume models.

“We will focus on a small number of – though genuine – Volkswagen core models. This will reduce complexity and deliver higher profits.”

The Arteon was first launched in 2017. Production is expected to end by 2024, assuming the usual 7-year model lifecycle for low volume cars like the Arteon.

The Arteon’s sister-car, the VW Passat Sedan has already been discontinued in all markets except China (sold as the Magotan). Europe still sells the Passat, but only in wagon bodystyle.

Closer to home, VW Passenger Cars Malaysia (VPCM) discontinued the Passat in January 2023.

The VW Arteon is still available and was recently given a specs update, now with IQ.Drive suite of ADAS features (with a circa RM 23k increase in price). The locally-assembled model is now priced at RM 301,012.

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