This could be the last generation of the Volkswagen Golf. This was revealed by the new head of the brand, Thomas Schaefer, in an interview with the German newspaper Welt. In it, the manager stated that, as a result of the new Euro 7 regulations, which will come into force from 2025, combustion engines would become between 3,000 and 5,000 euros more expensive.
This is bad news for the German brand’s compact, which has accumulated more than 30 million units manufactured since its introduction in 1974 and premiered its eighth generation in 2020. “In a small car, the cost increase cannot be justified,” said the manager, who considers that “individual mobility is a basic need and must continue to be achievable in the future”.
Volkswagen engineers are currently working on the mid-cycle update of the Golf 8 and, under normal conditions, its replacement would arrive in 2028 – the car’s product cycles last eight years, with a mid-life restyling. “We’ll have to see if it’s worth developing a new vehicle that isn’t going to last the full eight years,” he said.
The sword of Damocles that hangs over the sector is the ban on the sale of thermal engines that the European Commission has approved in 2035. The solution inevitably lies in electrification. The Volkswagen Group unveiled its industrial strategy for connectivity and zero emission models in November 2021, for which it would allocate 89,000 million euros.
“We will have more information about the future of the Golf in the next 12 months,” said Schäfer. His goal with the brand now is to recover profitability, even if this is detrimental to market share. “Winning in the rankings is not a deciding factor,” he conceded.
«In the past, the Volkswagen Group launched itself fully into niche markets, eager to become the largest manufacturer in the world» —today it occupies the second position in global sales, with 3.8 million deliveries in the first half-, « but what we need are basic products that shine again, like the Beetle or the Golf”, he concluded.