It appears thatVolkswagen's most popular name will disappear from markets that only allow the sale of electric cars. What? Is this the end of the road for Golf?

First reported inAuto Express,Volkswagen’s boss of sales and marketing, Jurgen Stackmann told the publication that fully electric markets will be the end of many Volkswagen products as the brand switches to its all-electric ID family.

He was asked if the Volkswagen Golf still has a future.“Probably not, butI am convinced that you will see Golf 9 coming.I think Golf will have a lot of interesting technologies until the boundary of full electric. The fully electric ID goes into the ID family and that decision is of a divide within the family.So for full electric, we want to have optimised platforms doing just electric and they will be called ID. for the future.”

With some European markets banning internal combustion engine cars from sale as early as 2030 (the UK's aim), car companies are pushing hard to get all-electric models rolled out. Right now, there's no all-electric Golf 8, with the Volkswagen ID.3 expected to take the mantle. But, fear not, it is not the end of the road for Golf. "Golf will remain as a strong effort of the brand in many places and I believe in Europe as well, but in many places outside Europe where they probably don’t have the capacity to go full electric so fast.” said Stackmann. “So I’m convinced that we will see a parallel run of Golf 9 and ID. next generation. What technology Golf 9 will bring we will see. It will again be leading edge as we are now seeing with Golf 8 – whenever we come with next generation Golf it will be a mark for the rest of the industry to beat for the next five or six years to come.”

For the SA market, we think there's still plenty of life left in the internal combustion engine, so don't panic!

Further Reading

Volkswagen Golf GTI (2020) International First Ride

Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR (2020) Specs & Price

Spy Shots: 2021 VW Golf 8 GTI Clubsport

VW's Electric Strategy Kicks off in SA