2021 Volkswagen Arteon Remains, Pricing Announced
Volkswagen isn’t listening to Corey, apparently. Just like the rest of us don’t, either! Ba-zing!
I kid, I kid. We all have takes, and we all poke fun at each other on Slack. But Corey just recently wrote that the Volkswagen Arteon needs to die. And yet, it continues to live.
I don’t totally agree with Corey’s take — the Arteon is a pretty decent car. But I see the logic: What’s the business model for a large sedan during a time of crossover craze, especially when one can get a similar Audi for not much more dough?
But VW isn’t ready to pull any plugs just yet. Not surprising, really, since the car just launched not too long ago. It’s out there, and there were development costs and certification costs and all that. Might as well sell as many as VW can and try to make some money off of it, especially as it is refreshed for this year.
So now we have proof of life in the form of 2021 Arteon pricing. The base price for the 2021 MY is $36,995. That’s for an SE.
Step up to the SEL R-Line and pony up at least $41,595 ($43,395 for AWD), while the top-trim SEL Premium R-Line starts at $46,995 with standard all-wheel drive. Destination for all trims is $1,195.
[Image: Volkswagen]
Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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Arteon is like "Phaeton II" without the lofty upscale goals. If Arteon is to live, then US Passat must die. VW doesn't need two sedans fighting for what is oddly becoming a niche market. The current US Passat is embarrassing, the Arteon seems to be decent enough, though I've only sat in one and not driven one. I'd rather see Arteons move downmarket (or down in price) than see the US Passat try to move up. I'd rather see a truck (like my current Ridgeline) or minivan from VW than yet another crossover. VW needs the "flagship Arteon" as much as Nissan needs to keep the Maxima around.
If they're going to do that, they need to build it in North America. If they import it from Germany, it's going to be overpriced as hell, and that'll put them in the same pickle they're at with the Arteon.
The A5 is a size smaller than Arteon. Back seat space is tight in A5. Arteon back seat space is A7 sized. VW's stealth marketing and VWoA pricing screwed this car. People don't know what this is or that it exists. I'm talking normal people, not the people that read TTAC. I liked it, but it does need a tune to get power up to above 300hp. It's a terrible value as is, esp. with the hobbled warranty.
I don't know why this car is even available in FWD form. Anybody who is buying this purely on price is going to be better served by the current McPassat - the spiritual successor to the W-body Impala for people who buy their sedans by the lb price. Make it AWD only, split the current price difference between FWD/AWD and SE trim shouldn't exist. I would whine about the AWD system but even Audi has been dumbing theirs down a bit in the past few years chasing MPG.