Eighth-Gen Volkswagen Golf Models May Survive Until 2035
Conventionally powered cars that are set to be replaced with electric successors in the coming years may survive longer than expected. One of them could be the eighth-generation Volkswagen Golf, which is available in North America exclusively in GTI and R trim.
Kai Grünitz, an engineer working for the German automaker, said in an interview with Top Gear NL that it might stick around until the European Union imposes the sale of new zero-emission vehicles starting in 2035—with a possible exemption for certain sports cars running on synthetic fuel.
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If you do the math, the current Golf would be 15 years old by then. Its MQB platform is another seven years older.
The car initially launched in Europe back in March 2020 (in Canada during the fall of 2021). It’s now getting its first significant update (for MY2025) complete with the integration of ChatGPT, as we wrote in our previous stories. At least two more updates would be necessary to keep the model fresh and competitive until midway through the next decade.
To be clear, Volkswagen still plans to launch a battery-electric Golf sometime in 2026 or 2027 using the company’s new Scalable System Platform (SSP) instead of the MEB architecture that currently underpins the ID.3, ID.4 and more.
However, given that customer demand for EVs isn’t growing the way the auto industry and others anticipated, it makes perfect sense to keep the ICE-powered Golf alive for as long as possible. Consider this: sales of the Golf in Europe are up 43 percent so far this year. In the U.S., the Golf GTI posted a 23-percent increase during the last quarter alone.
Volkswagen gave a preview of the future Golf EV at IAA Mobility 2023 in Munich in the form of the ID. GTI Concept, so click on the link to learn more about what lies ahead.