Often considered the benchmark in its class, the Volkswagen Golf success story needs no introduction. But the long-standing hatchback is no longer Volkswagen’s best seller, having recently been dethroned by its Tiguan cousin, and there is another threat looming in the distance in the form of the battery-powered ID.3.
It has been widely speculated that Volkswagen’s electrification drive would eventually see the Golf facing the axe, but now two executives have weighed in on the matter and one isn’t completely sure whether the nameplate will live beyond its current generation.
Speaking to Australian website CarsGuide, VW communications head Paul Pottinger said it was likely that the Volkswagen Golf would continue for one more generation, but that “nothing is set in stone”. Pottinger then explained that there was huge demand for the ID.3 in Europe.
Product manager Jeff Shafer was less certain about a next-generation Golf.
“It’s fair to assume this one will live out its entire life cycle, including an update, but beyond then it’s hard to say,” Shafer told CarsGuide. “It’s true, there’s a lot of brand value in Golf, and I’d say it’s likely to continue beyond this generation, if not in Europe then globally,” he concluded.
With many European countries planning to outlaw combustion-engined cars after 2030 and some, such as Norway, planning to do it as soon as 2025, it’s inevitable that the Volkswagen Golf will be discontinued in its home continent. However, if sufficient demand still exists for it in other parts of the world, then the hatchback could live a little longer in certain global markets such as ours.
But what about an electric Golf? Although there was a battery-powered Golf 7, Volkswagen has decided not to do that for the eight-generation, given that it’s prime contender in that class is ID.3. Yet it’s not impossible that, much further down the line, Golf could be resurrected as a retro-styled electric vehicle that complements the ID.3, much like the ‘Millenium Bug’ served as a more charismatic alternative to the Golf 4 at the start of this millennium. This is all pure speculation of course, but it’s hard to imagine Volkswagen ever retiring its Golf nameplate completely.
As for the here and now, Volkswagen South Africa is planning to launch the Golf 8 GTI in the third quarter of this year. It will be followed by the R version, but this time around there won’t be any ‘regular’ TSI Golf models offered locally.
