Volkswagen global head and former leader of the South African subsidiary Thomas Schafer is reported to have confirmed the new ninth generation Golf is due in 2028.
"There will be a Golf and it will be a true Golf in packaging and driveability, but fully electric. In the line-up we are proposing up to 2028 we will probably put the Golf directly on the SSP," said Schafer, and it will sit between the smaller VW ID 2 and ID.3 in size.
The Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) is the new single electric car platform on which VW aims to build its portfolio of products. In the recent past the company used the MEB platform to build volume sellers such as the ID.3 models, while the J1 platform underpinned niche models such as the Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron GT.
The new SSP is designed to be scalable for a small hatchback right up to behemoths such as the Bentley Bentayga and will also integrate sophisticated, 800V electrical architecture that allows charging speeds far above the 175kW maximum of the VW group’s current electric vehicles (EVs).
Cars based on SSP will be able to top up from 10-80% capacity in 12 minutes, Volkswagen has said, compared with the 35 minutes benchmark now. VW said better software is being designed to accommodate level-four autonomous driving functionality.
Before then, and according to Schafer, the Golf Mk8 launched in 2019 will receive a midlife upgrade early in 2024, designed for stricter Euro 7 emissions regulations provisionally set for July 2025.
With the Golf Mk9 going fully electric, this means the Mk8 is the last Golf with internal combustion engines.
Schafer said the Golf range will live alongside its ID nameplate cousins but maintain its legacy name, so there will be no ID.Golf moniker. Similarly with Tiguan and GTI, the latter recently shown in concept form at the IAA Munich motor show.
Nine-nine!
Fully-electrified Volkswagen Golf 9 is coming in 2028
The Mk8 seems to be the last Golf with ICE engines and electrified 'R' brand tags with all-wheel drive underpinnings
Senior Motoring Correspondent
Image: Supplied
Volkswagen global head and former leader of the South African subsidiary Thomas Schafer is reported to have confirmed the new ninth generation Golf is due in 2028.
"There will be a Golf and it will be a true Golf in packaging and driveability, but fully electric. In the line-up we are proposing up to 2028 we will probably put the Golf directly on the SSP," said Schafer, and it will sit between the smaller VW ID 2 and ID.3 in size.
The Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) is the new single electric car platform on which VW aims to build its portfolio of products. In the recent past the company used the MEB platform to build volume sellers such as the ID.3 models, while the J1 platform underpinned niche models such as the Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron GT.
The new SSP is designed to be scalable for a small hatchback right up to behemoths such as the Bentley Bentayga and will also integrate sophisticated, 800V electrical architecture that allows charging speeds far above the 175kW maximum of the VW group’s current electric vehicles (EVs).
Cars based on SSP will be able to top up from 10-80% capacity in 12 minutes, Volkswagen has said, compared with the 35 minutes benchmark now. VW said better software is being designed to accommodate level-four autonomous driving functionality.
Before then, and according to Schafer, the Golf Mk8 launched in 2019 will receive a midlife upgrade early in 2024, designed for stricter Euro 7 emissions regulations provisionally set for July 2025.
With the Golf Mk9 going fully electric, this means the Mk8 is the last Golf with internal combustion engines.
Schafer said the Golf range will live alongside its ID nameplate cousins but maintain its legacy name, so there will be no ID.Golf moniker. Similarly with Tiguan and GTI, the latter recently shown in concept form at the IAA Munich motor show.
Image: REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth
Schafer said the electric GTX sub-brand, a development brand of sporting EVs, are likely to fall away, perhaps in favour of the GTI nameplate which the company hints will spawn a number of models. He added the high performance and all-wheel drive "R" brand will also go electric for its production cars.
"All the ICE models will still be available as an R for now, but then we’ll switch to SSP in 2028."
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