The future is looking rather bleak for the VW Golf and we’re quite sad as the VW brand boss hints at the potential demise of the once king of hot hatches. And truth be told, it’s not that they are losing money with the Golf but rather can’t make it feasible to meet current emission regulations. And because the fate of the Golf’s brand is currently hanging on a thread, it makes us worried for our favourite cars in the future.
The news came to light after Volkswagen Brand CEO, Thomas Schäfer, told the news to a German media outlet. In which he mentions that the internal combustion engines are cost-ineffective in the medium term. This is due to the escalating Euro 7 emissions standards which will effectively make all internal combustion engines (ICE) roughly $3,000 to $5,000 (RM13,383 to RM22,305) more expensive. Impractically making even the base 1.4TSI nearly a RM200k car.
This makes it even worse knowing the fact that the 1.4TSI is currently a RM170k car while competitors like the top-of-the-line Honda Civic RS is nearly RM40k cheaper at RM144k. And truth be told, the new mk8 VW Golf has gotten a mixed response from enthusiasts so a bump up in price will only get more frowns.
“With a small car, these additional costs can hardly be offset. So entry-level mobility with combustion engines will be significantly more expensive," Schäfer said. He added "We will have to see whether it is worth developing a new vehicle that does not last the full seven or eight years." when asked about an upcoming or potential 9th-generation model.
With the EU’s ban on brand new ICE-vehicles coming in 2035, VW is uncertain whether it is a wise choice to go on with a new Golf after the mid-cycle refresh for the current mk8 which should hold up to the end of this decade. Afterall, spending millions and millions into a development only for it to be doomed after a few years doesn’t require a PhD to comprehend.
But then again, VW will be putting out more EVs in the years to come with potentially a replacement to the ever-so-loved Golf, possibly even at a cheaper price. Or maybe they’ll just rename the Golf to something like an ‘e-Golf’ or ‘Golf-e’. But then again, they already have the hybrid Golf GTE and if they come out with an EV-variant of the Golf R, will it be called the ‘GolfeR’? Well, time will tell I guess.
Written by | Danial Malek
Images by | Volkswagen
