Volkswagen has announced a series of cutbacks, including ceasing production of the large sedan Arteun and moving to joint production of its brands. And what about the Polo and Skoda Fabia that threatened to disappear from the supply because of new pollution standards? Not a word.

Despite their popularity in the European markets, super mini cars have always been a challenge for manufacturers in terms of profitability, and this situation has only gotten worse in recent years, when on the one hand they had to continue to offer a significantly lower price than that of compact cars on the one hand, but to offer comfort accessories, safety standards And overall quality is closer to their big sisters on the other hand.

The entry into force of a stricter air pollution standard, Euro 7, between 2025 and 2027, will lead to the imposition of fines on the manufacturers and consequently cause the cars to become more expensive. And although the fines themselves amount to approximately 150-300 euros per car, from the manufacturer’s point of view the meaning of adapting the engines to comply with the new standards (which include not only air pollution but also strict safety standards) may increase the price by approximately 3,000 to 5,000 euros per unit – which will make them profitability. Especially when you understand that the manufacturer itself has no intention of harming its profitability, certainly not under the “ACCELERATE FORWARD” program where one of the main goals is to improve profitability by 6.5% by 2026.

Volkswagen is not the first manufacturer to recognize the difficulty of continuing to offer super mini cars due to the changing conditions, which only make their production something that the car companies do not see as a source of profit. Ford has already said it will stop making the Fiesta and Peugeot Citroen will electrify the 208 and C3 by 2030. Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schaeffler recently threatened to stop production of the Polo, before Germany, Flynn and other car-making countries appealed to the European Union to ease the The new standards.

This week the German manufacturer announced a focus on models with the largest sales volumes and profitability. In the nearer future we will see this manifested with the discontinuation of production of its current flagship – the Hartown. It will be somewhat replaced by the electric ID.7, which itself will offer far fewer customization options in order to simplify its production. “The ID.7 will offer 99% fewer customization options than the Golf 7,” said the manufacturer’s press release.

More news regarding the concern concerns an accelerated transition to joint production of similar models. Already today, the Skoda Karoq and Seat Ateca are produced together in the Czech Republic, and the electric Copra Born and Volkswagen ID.3 in Germany. The first sign of this will be a move to joint production on the same assembly line of the Skoda Superb and Volkswagen Passat – where the savings, according to Volkswagen, will amount to 600 million euros over the life of the models.

The announcement also stated what was already known, that the Seat/Copra brand will be the one to lead the concern’s small streetcar venture, including their cheap streetcar, the ID.2 which should cost only about 25 thousand euros. Nothing was said about the fate of the Polo and the Fabia. Is the issue in discussions with the European Union, or is Volkswagen simply running away from the gospel? We will know soon.