Last summer, alarm bells went off when Thomas Schäfer, Volkswagen CEO, commented that they had not yet made a decision on the development of the ninth generation of the Volkswagen Golf: Was its most iconic compact in danger? Months later, the head of the German brand has answered this question and has also given clues about the future of the GTI name.
As we said, a few months ago, Thomas Schäfer gave an interview to the German newspaper Welt in which he spoke about the future of the Volkswagen Golf: We’ll have to see if it’s worth it. develop a new vehicle that is not going to last a full seven or eight years.” A process that, according to his words, would be “extremely expensive.”
He said this because, with the arrival of Euro 7, prices are expected to increase, according to his calculations, between 3,000 and 5,000 euros because they will need more sophisticated systems to achieve this approval. In this scenario, electrification emerged as a lifeline: we now know that this process It will not imply the disappearance of the iconic Volkswagen Golf… and neither of its GTI version.
“It would be crazy to let them die”
In a new interview, this time granted to Coach, Thomas Schäfer assured that they have “iconic brands such as Golf and GTI. It would be crazy to let them escape or die. We would not get rid of the Golf name in any way.” When asked if it is possible for the brand to end up having a Volkswagen ID Golf, he replied: “It could.”
The CEO of Volkswagen explained, at the same time, that ID models don’t always need to have a number after of that pair of acronyms, using the ID as an example. Buzz: “We are working on our future naming line. We will probably stick with the ID family, but at the same time, the iconic models will also have their name as we have done with the ID. Buzz”.
And the Golf GTI?
When Thomas Schäfer talks about the Volkswagen GTI, he suggests that there is some interest in taking it down the path of electrification… but the brand already has a name for those high-performance IDs: GTX. The VW CEO points out that these acronyms were “an idea on the road to electrification: we came up with a different name. We will see in the future, if we need it or not… although GTI is very strong”.
It does not make it clear which letters they would prefer for a hypothetical Volkswagen ID Golf, but another hypothesis would fit: keep the two possibilities and allocate, perhaps, GTX for the electric equivalent of the Volkswagen Golf R.
The future of the Volkswagen Polo
All this raises new questions: what will be the place of the Volkswagen ID.3 if a possible Volkswagen ID Golf arrives? The brand believes that there is room for both models because, from its point of view, the first “has never been a successor to the Golf. It’s more like a Golf Plus.” In case there is any clueless in the room, he refers to the minivan that was manufactured between 2004 and 2014 whose replacement was by the Golf Sportsvan. The theoretical Volkswagen ID Golf would therefore be located between the ID.2 and the ID.3.
Finally, Thomas Schäfer spoke about the future of the Volkswagen Polo and the continuity of its nomenclature: “It’s pretty iconic, but is it iconic enough to continue? That’s not clear yet.”
Despite all these clues, it must be borne in mind that Any such change is still a long way off. since Volkswagen is working on a new generation of the Volkswagen Golf and it is expected to remain on sale for several more years. About what there is little doubt is about the look of its future: both the Golf and the Golf GTI seem to be, inevitably, linked to a plug. Something almost inevitable considering the plans of the European Union for 2035.
