Rising production costs for models equipped with Euro 7-compliant combustion engines have made the future of models like the Golf uncertain. Volkswagen had already announced in August that the decision on what to do with the brand’s most popular model, of which more than 35 million units have already been manufactured, “would be taken in the next 12 months.” And Thomas Schäfer, the CEO of VW, took advantage of the recent Los Angeles Auto Show to lift a corner of the veil.
According to the CEO shared with Autocar, The Golf name will live on, but not the 4.3m-long compact hatchback model. For Schäfer, and for everyone, even those who don’t work for the German brand, the Golf name is too important to die with the combustion model, so it will now identify an electric model as ID.Golf.
Although it does not reveal the precise date on which this transformation will take place, the manager suggested that the ID.Golf will join the brand’s battery range as a smaller ID.3, but bigger than the future ID.2???????? However, as the brand has already announced, the ID.3 will have the right to a crossover version, located between the ID.3 sedan and the ID.4 SUV. Hence, it is likely that this future ID.3 crossover will be the one chosen to wear the name ID.Golf, since it will not be easy to insert this model between the 4.26 m of the ID.3 and the 4.03 m of the Urban Rebel . from Cupra, which will share a base with the ID.2.
The CEO of Volkswagen also stated that the ID.3 will enjoy a remodeling in 2023on the occasion of the presentation of the sports version GTX.
The Golf as we know it in the 8th generation, with combustion and electrified engines, will continue to be manufactured in Europe until 2027/2028, despite the fact that Brussels allows this type of mechanics to be marketed until 2035.
Source: Observadora
