The Volkswagen Golf 8 will almost certainly be the last combustion engined version of the iconic hatchback, the brand’s chief has confirmed.
BERLIN – Volkswagen does not plan to develop a new combustion engine generation of its Golf hatchback, brand chief Thomas Schaefer told autos publication Automobilwoche on Sunday.
The Golf 8 will be the last combustion engine version of the hatchback, with one more series of updates expected next year.
“With that, the car is set until the end of the decade. Then we have to see how this segment develops,” Schaefer said. “If the world develops completely differently than expected by 2026 or 2027, we could develop a totally new vehicle – but I don’t think it will. So far that is not expected,” he added.
Volkswagen’s decision not to invest in upgrading the Golf, for decades Europe’s best-selling car, is a marker of the shift in investment by the carmaker from retooling combustion engines to bringing down the cost of electric vehicles.
The carmaker plans to keep the Golf name for a future electric model, but the earliest this is likely to be released is 2028, Schaefer said.
He recently told Autocar that the company wanted its iconic names like Golf to live on in the electric era.
“We have iconic brand names, Golf and GTI. It would be crazy to let them die and slip away. We will stick with the ID logic but iconic models will carry a name,” Schäfer said.
The VW boss speculated that the company might have something along the lines of an ID Golf, but reiterated that “We would not let go of the Golf name, no way.”
The Volkswagen brand is targeting 80% electric sales in Europe and 55% in North America by 2030. The group is targeting 50% electric sales globally by then.
It is due to launch 10 new electric models by 2026, including a battery-electric car, inspired by the recent Volkswagen ID4all concept, for under 25 000 euros (R486,000).
Reuters & IOL
