Volkswagen Golf, one of the most popular compact cars in the world, may be ending its existence – it is useless to develop a new generation of hatchbacks, especially in light of increasingly strict environmental regulations.
As Thomas Schaefer, CEO of VW, noted, in this segment it is more profitable to produce electric vehicles, which will soon become more affordable than cars with internal combustion engines (ICE). That is, the current eighth generation VW Golf may be the last Golf with an internal combustion engine.
“We’ll have to see if it’s worth developing a new car that won’t last seven or eight years (due to environmental regulations – approx. red.)”, says Thomas Schaefer, who specifies that the development of a new generation will be “extremely expensive”.
The CEO also said the company is working on updating the current Golf and that the further fate of the model will be determined over the next 12 months.
The departure of combustion engine models is no surprise – EU countries have agreed to sell only zero-emission cars from 2030. Earlier, in March 2021, VW announced the impending appearance of new generations of Golf, T-Roc, Tiguan and Passat models, but now they apparently won’t be.
The VW group is currently working on four relatively affordable electric vehicles that will be available before 2025. The VW ID.2 is expected to cost less than 25,000 euros (1.5 million rubles). The power reserve of the car on one charge is 350-400 km.
A picture: Volkswagen