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In March 2021, Volkswagen was eager to announce that the Golf, T-Roc, Tiguan, and Passat would all get next-generation models. That statement may be a bit premature in the case of the compact hatchback/wagon duo as the company’s newly appointed CEO remains cautious about the Golf’s future. In an interview with a German newspaper WeltsThomas Schäfer said a decision on developing a ninth-generation model had not yet been taken.
The former head honcho of Skoda took control of VW’s core brand on April 1 this year and questioned the Golf’s future due to rising costs with developing cars equipped with combustion engines. The Euro 7 regulation is expected to arrive in the coming years, and it will raise the price of ICE-powered cars by €3,000 to €5,000, according to Schäfer. He went on to say the end was near for €10,000 cars in Europe because making combustion engines comply with stricter laws on emissions would increase development costs.
The VW executive announced a mid-cycle facelift is in the works for the current Golf, but the Mk9 is uncertain at this point. He pointed out that engineering a new ICE car that is unlikely to have a traditional 7-8 year life cycle might not be worth it, adding it was “very expensive” to develop a Euro 7 compliant vehicle.
Reading between the lines, his statement about the Golf 9 not being sold for a full seven to eight years relates to a ban on the sale of new cars equipped with petrol or diesel engines that will take effect in the European Union in 2035. The current-generation model has been around since 2019 and It is likely to receive a facelift in 2023/2024 which will be on sale for another three to four years.
Therefore, the Golf Mk9 could potentially arrive in 2027 or so, meaning its demise could coincide with the demise of ICE in the EU. Some Euro markets may decide to switch to EVs sooner than that, consequently impacting Golf sales by limiting their availability.
Thomas Schäfer said the final decision on whether there would be a ninth Golf would be taken in the next 12 months. He said that with a small car, it is difficult to offset the higher development costs that come with the Euro 7, so we can conclude that the future does not look good for the ICE-powered Polo supermini either. In fact, Audi has said it will say goodbye to the mechanically linked A1 after this generation, with the Q2 subcompact crossover also going down the dodo path.
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