At the end of 2014, the climate at the Anchieta factory must have been one of the worst ever seen, after all, after 27 years of absolute leadership, Gol had its crown withdrawn by Fiat Palio.
Now, imagine the same in Wolfsburg when the Golf ceased, for the first time, to lead monthly sales in Europe. Worse, when it lost annual sales to a compact competitor.
Yeah, now, almost 50 years later, Golf closed 2022 in its worst historical result, a mediocre fifth place for the car, which was considered the best in Europe.
It was not only the best that Europeans could buy, but in the eyes of those who had traveled the world, the best there was in all the inhabited Earth.
As Jeremy Clarkson pointed out more than once, the Golf was the answer to all questions about the ideal car to drive.
From an aggressive sports car to a day-to-day car, the Golf was seen as absolute and that made it reign in Europe for decades, defeating all initiatives by the competition to dethrone it.
The reference that the best VW engineers were not at Porsche, Lamborghini and Bugatti comes from Clarkson, who pointed out that the first team was in the Golf project.
The Teutonic battlehorse was like a Leopard 2, however, electrification put the biggest European player and, yes, the best-selling hatch in history, in the hot seat with the eighth generation, criticized there.
The current generation of the Golf has lost appeal to cars that were never its rivals, such as the Peugeot 208, Dacia Sandero and even its crossover brother, the T-Roc, today the best-selling VW in Europe.
Worst of all for Europeans, fans, admirers and Golf owners, was seeing the Fiat 500 pass the iconic VW hatch…
A 2007 car surpassed a model that is not even three years old on the market, seen as an economical generation of the Golf.
If little disgrace is silly, the weather in Wolfsburg is now good, after all, VW management has its eyes (blindfolded) on the electrical line, where the ID.3 failed before having the chance to become the third German “Typ” .
Now the talk is of an electric Golf, but will it really do the trick? For a car that has already registered 700,000 a year, selling a measly 177,203 copies is indeed the beginning of the end…
Best selling cars in Europe in 2022:
1. Peugeot 208 – 206,816 units
2. Dacia Sandero – 200,550
3. Volkswagen T-Roc – 181.153
4. Fiat 500 – 179.863
5.Volkswagen Golf – 177.203
6. Toyota Yaris – 175.713
7. Opel Corsa – 164.358
8. Hyundai Tucson – 150.803
9. Dacia Duster – 149,648
10. Renault Clio – 143.561
[Fonte: Auto Fórum/Jato Dynamics]