With the Volkswagen Golf 7 due a “major update” in the coming weeks, VW chief Herbert Diess has revealed that one or more of the C-segment hatchback’s variants will be discontinued.
Diess admitted to Autocar that the Wolfsburg brand had been forced to focus on increasing its profit margins in the wake of the costly diesel emissions scandal. And one way it plans to do so is by reducing the number of variants in its all-important Golf range.
“We need to simplify the product offering of the next Golf and have fewer variants, because we have got to get more cost-effectiveness into our company,” Diess told Autocar.
“We need to be more agile and more innovative, and this is one example,” he revealed.
In various markets around the world, the Golf hatchback is available in a number of alternative body styles, including estate, Alltrack, convertible and SV. Currently only the latter variant is offered in South Africa, with the convertible having been pulled from the local market earlier this year.
Autocar furthermore reports that there is a significant chance of the Golf’s current powertrain line-up being “rationalised”.
The facelifted Golf is scheduled to be revealed in November.
