Volkswagen Golf to celebrate 50th birthday with a facelift

Volkswagen’s most iconic model, the Golf, turns 50 this year and the eighth generation car is being given a facelift at the end of January to commemorate the milestone.

The Golf is the heart of the Volkswagen brand and more than 37-million units have been sold in eight generations since the first unit left the assembly line in Wolfsburg in March 1974.

The original Golf Mk1 was a front-engined, front-wheel drive replacement for the air-cooled, rear-engined, rear-wheel drive Volkswagen Beetle. With a large boot lid and folding rear seat backrest, the straight-line design created by Giorgetto Giugiaro helped Volkswagen adopt a new style which was continued in its successors. The first million units were sold by 1976 and the Golf went on to become the most successful European car and best-selling Volkswagen to date.

From its humble beginnings as a replacement for the original people’s car, VW’s hatchback has gone on to spawn high-performance legends such as the GTI and Golf R, and limited-edition Clubsport versions. With each new model generation, the car has become larger, safer and more hi-tech.

The eighth-generation Golf made its world debut in early 2020 and moved further into the digital realm with new semi-autonomous driving aids and hi-tech infotainment. It was launched in South Africa in 2021 and is only available in high-performance GTI and R models.

In its half-century year the Golf 8 is being enhanced with a visual revamp, new assist systems, new powertrains and updated infotainment systems, with details to be announced in a few weeks’ time.

To commemorate the anniversary year Volkswagen will present historic Golf models at various events, starting with a display of the first seven generations at the Salon Rétromobile show in Paris from January 31 to February 4.

From February 2-4 the company will show a Golf I and the unique EA 276 concept car — the Golf predecessor from 1969 developed in Wolfsburg — at the Bremen Classic Motorshow.