Spy shots of the 2024 Volkswagen ID.6 (Aero): the Arteon's electric successor is spotted.

Volkswagen engineers were spotted testing a battery-electric sedan that will replace the Arteon.

The sedan is a production version of the 2018 ID.Vizzion concept car and will likely eventually spawn a wagon version inspired by the 2019 ID.Space Vizzion (shown below).

The prototype is heavily camouflaged with stickers covering the grille and lights, but the final design should resemble the look of the ID.Space Vizzion. You will notice that the exhaust tips are also stickers.

The new sedan will likely be called the ID.6; Herbert Diess, CEO of VW's parent company, the Volkswagen Group, confirmed in July plans for a Passat-like electric car called the ID.6 and an Atlas-sized crossover called the ID.8. Note that VW already sells the ID.6 X and ID.6 Crozz in China, both of which are crossovers.

Despite Deiss describing the ID.6 as Passat-like, VW will still offer the internal combustion-powered Passat in some markets, though perhaps not in the US. The new Passat will be based on an updated version of VW Group's MQB platform that underpins the current global Passat we are missing here.

The ID.6 will ride on VW's MEB platform for mainstream EVs. As an indication of range-topping performance, the ID.Vizzion concept, also on the MEB platform, has an 82-kilowatt-hour battery that, according to VW, has an EPA-measured range of about 300 miles. In a nod to enthusiasts, the concept only delivered 275 hp to the rear wheels; VW also suggests that a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive setup could produce 355 hp.

VW Group announced last November that it plans to produce a four-door VW EV, code-named Aero, at its Emden plant in Germany starting in 2023. The plant currently produces the ID.4 and the global Passat and Arteon models; in its announcement, VW Group said Passat production will be moved to the Bratislava plant in Slovakia in 2023. Since there was no mention of the fate of the Arteon, it is likely that the ID.6 is the so-called Aero model that will be produced at Emden.

The good news is that VW has hinted that a production version of the ID.Vizzion will be launched in the U.S. to replace the Passat and Arteon; VW has also hinted that it will bring a production version of the ID.Space Vizzion, possibly the ID.7. Yes, an electric wagon may be sold here in the not-too-distant future.

The ID.6 is expected to go into production in 2023, so it will probably appear as a 2024 model. That is the same year that VW will begin selling a modern microbus in the U.S. based on the 2017 ID.Buzz concept.