The end of the journey of the generation-loved Volkswagen Golf is coming to an end. The car company said the Mark 8 will be the last to be produced.
The car, which has been a bestseller in Europe for decades, will undergo a “mid-life” update next year, but will be the last model with an internal combustion engine.
“The car will be in production until the end of the decade. Then we have to see how this segment develops. If the world develops completely differently than expected by 2026 or 2027, we could develop a completely new vehicle – but I don’t think we will happen. So far that is not expected,” explained Thomas Schaefer, CEO of VW Cars.
VW is believed to have made the decision to focus on the production of its electric cars, including efforts to reduce their cost.
The Golf, which was launched in 1974, has been the best-selling car in Europe for the past 14 years.
Speaking to Automobilwoche, the German trade publication, Schaefer explained that VW will not completely abandon “iconic names such as the Golf, Tiguan and GTI, but will bring them into the new electric era”.
“Especially with the Golf – it has to fit the genes,” he added, as quoted by The Times.
The so-called e-Golf, which VW produced for a short time, was canned and replaced by the ID.3.
The German manufacturer aims for 80% of electric car sales in Europe and 55% in North America by 2030. The group aims for 50% of electric car sales worldwide by then.
VW is to launch ten electric models by 2026, including a battery electric car for under €25,000.
The announcement came after Ford announced it would stop making models of the Fiesta, Britain’s most popular car. The American automaker plans to scrap the Fiesta, and the new models are expected to be withdrawn from sale within a year. A change in consumer buying habits, highlighted by the growing popularity of SUVs, is said to have been a motivation for the decision.
“There are few cars as iconic as the VW Golf – and I love mine,” writes Ben Clatworthy. “So does everyone I know who owns or has owned one. The Golf is the perfect car in so many ways: not only is it impeccably reliable, but it’s also classless and fits in without being boring. At junctions, your people they let go in a way they don’t with Audi or BMW drivers. You can drive through a McDonald’s or pull up outside a grand five-star country hotel without anyone flinching at you.”
It’s no wonder that when asked what compact car he would recommend, former Top Gear presenter James May replied: “I’d say buy a Golf… The Golf is the answer to everything, as we know. And it’s the only car which should really exist.”
He is not wrong. And it is not surprising that the popularity of the Golf, born in an era when British cars were unreliable to a hole, has skyrocketed. Not just from families looking for a small car that still has room for a car seat and a dog in the back, but also from traveling salesmen who, while the government was pushing diesel cars, saw the reliable Golf as a car that would happily has done over 250,000 miles with little maintenance.
