Photo: Volkswagen
Volkswagen's Arteon is not selling like ice cream on a hot day, at least not in the U.S., where its sales figures for the first quarter of 2022 are low by any measure. When compared to the results from the same period last year, Volkswagen's data shows a drop of 96 percent. That is not a good sign of things to come.
Now, it is unclear whether the global chip shortage is responsible for the massive drop in Arteon sales, or if the market is slowly shifting away from this body style to SUVs and crossovers altogether. In the first quarter of 2021, Volkswagen sold 1,099 Arteon units, which is not exceptional regardless of how you look at the figures.
As a comparison, the Passat got 4,535 units sold in the same period of 2021, while in the first quarter of 2022, Passat sales fell to 2,345 units, as Volkswagen's figures show. The Jetta's sales dropped from 22,714 units in Q1 2021 to 10,878 units in Q1 2022. Again, that is not ideal by any means.
The VW Taos has managed to get 13,674 sales in Q1 2022, but that does not make up for the 28.5-percent sales drop in Q1 2022 when compared to the same period of last year.
If SUVs were the ones that VW customers would rather have, the Atlas, Atlas Cross Sport, and Tiguan would have obtained an increase in sales, rather than a decrease in figures across the board.
Volkswagen of America also offloaded four discontinued models in the first quarter, but did not disclose what those units were. The company mentioned that the discontinued model sales include the Beetle, Beetle Convertible, e-Golf, CC, Golf, Golf Sportwagen, Tiguan Limited, and Touareg. Since only four units were sold, VW did not bother detailing what kind of cars were there.
Given the circumstances, the Arteon might be getting cut at the end of this year in the U.S. if nothing improves when sales are concerned. The Passat and Arteon will already be discontinued in Canada by the end of 2022, so it would not be a surprise to see the same happen in the U.S.
However, the model was updated for the 2022 model year, so it might bow out in 2023, but it will be up to VW to make the call. With about 3,600 sold in its best year in the U.S., which was in 2020, it will be hard for things to turn around for one of the most attractive models made by the German brand. A 96-percent sales drop is massive, as Jalopnik underlines.
Despite the figures that would concern many people, Volkswagen managed to see the bright side and noted that the company is getting improvements in customer loyalty, as well as in the conquest/defection ratio, which has been above 1.0 since 2017.
The conquest/defection ratio means getting more customers to the brand than the marque loses to the competition. As a meme might write, "it ain't much, but it's honest work."
As a comparison, the Passat got 4,535 units sold in the same period of 2021, while in the first quarter of 2022, Passat sales fell to 2,345 units, as Volkswagen's figures show. The Jetta's sales dropped from 22,714 units in Q1 2021 to 10,878 units in Q1 2022. Again, that is not ideal by any means.
The VW Taos has managed to get 13,674 sales in Q1 2022, but that does not make up for the 28.5-percent sales drop in Q1 2022 when compared to the same period of last year.
If SUVs were the ones that VW customers would rather have, the Atlas, Atlas Cross Sport, and Tiguan would have obtained an increase in sales, rather than a decrease in figures across the board.
Volkswagen of America also offloaded four discontinued models in the first quarter, but did not disclose what those units were. The company mentioned that the discontinued model sales include the Beetle, Beetle Convertible, e-Golf, CC, Golf, Golf Sportwagen, Tiguan Limited, and Touareg. Since only four units were sold, VW did not bother detailing what kind of cars were there.
Given the circumstances, the Arteon might be getting cut at the end of this year in the U.S. if nothing improves when sales are concerned. The Passat and Arteon will already be discontinued in Canada by the end of 2022, so it would not be a surprise to see the same happen in the U.S.
However, the model was updated for the 2022 model year, so it might bow out in 2023, but it will be up to VW to make the call. With about 3,600 sold in its best year in the U.S., which was in 2020, it will be hard for things to turn around for one of the most attractive models made by the German brand. A 96-percent sales drop is massive, as Jalopnik underlines.
Despite the figures that would concern many people, Volkswagen managed to see the bright side and noted that the company is getting improvements in customer loyalty, as well as in the conquest/defection ratio, which has been above 1.0 since 2017.
The conquest/defection ratio means getting more customers to the brand than the marque loses to the competition. As a meme might write, "it ain't much, but it's honest work."
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