As it approaches its 50th anniversary, the future isn’t looking very good for the Volkswagen Golf — at least not in its current form.
VW is rapidly shifting from internal combustion engines to battery-electric propulsion, and that could seal the fate for one of the auto industry’s longest-running nameplates, a senior Volkswagen official told Germany’s Automobilwoche.
While the current version of the Golf will get a facelift next year, and might get a complete makeover sometime later in the decade, a ninth-generation hatchback would likely have to shift to battery power. Otherwise, it could be entirely replaced by an EV, VW brand boss Thomas Schaefer said in an interview.
Taking a wait-and-see approach
“We will have to see how the (compact hatchback) segment develops” by decade’s end, Schaefer said, though he did leave something of a lifeline for Golf and several other familiar nameplates.
“It’s clear that we will not be giving up iconic names like Golf, Tiguan and GTI, but will be transferring them to the electric world,” added Schaefer. “But with the Golf, in particular, it has to fit the genes. Just calling any vehicle that doesn’t work. We won’t make that mistake.”
The parent Volkswagen Group is making one of the world’s biggest commitments to battery power, spending more than $100 billion by the end of the decade. It already has launched several all-electric models, including the ID.4 SUV that is its first U.S. model. American dealers will soon get an extended wheelbase ID.Buzz, the standard-length version of the electric Microbus already on sale in Europe.
VW plugs in
All told, the Volkswagen brand itself will have at least 10 all-electric models available worldwide by 2026, with additional EVs offered by other group brands, including Audi, Porsche, Bentley and Lamborghini.
By 2030, VW expects battery-electric vehicles to account for 80% of its sales in Europe, 55% of demand in Europe, and 50% worldwide. By then, Bentley is scheduled to go entirely electric. And by 2035, the rest of the automaker’s brands will follow.
There has been speculation that the Golf might make the cut and return, possibly with the revised name ID.Golf. But it faces a number of challenges, beyond the need to go all-electric. Demand for hatchbacks — along with coupes and sedans — has collapsed in recent years, buyers around the world migrating to CUVs and SUVs.
“Golf” already gone from the U.S.
In fact, you can no longer buy a vehicle badged, “Golf” in the U.S. The final model earmarked for the States rolled off the assembly line in Puebla, Mexico in January 2021. But VW has continued offering the sportier GTI and R models to American buyers.
The Golf badge first appeared in 1974 and it is today Volkswagen’s second-longest-running nameplate, after the Beetle.
Scheduled updates to the hatchback “put it in a great position until the end of the decade,” said Schaefer. But beyond then, Schaefer said he is open to replacing Golf with “a completely new vehicle.