The Mk8 Golf has been a departure from other generations over the past few years, but it’s still kicking — and a new Mk9 model is on the way.
How do you get rid of something that’s been emblematic of your entire brand for more than 50 years? Well, if you’re Volkswagen, you don’t, and the company’s CEO just affirmed that a next-generation Golf has been under development for awhile. In an interview with Motor1 Spain (English version on Motor1 here), Thomas Schäfer is confident this new model will hit the right mark among fans.
“The team is working on the car. Last year, in November, I was able to see the first full-size model, and all I could say was, ‘Wow. It’s so beautiful.’” At the time, that particular car was just an early prototype, but it made a strong enough impression for VW brass to keep going. “At the end of the year, we had a senior management board meeting — an end-of-year wrap-up — where we reviewed results and looked ahead. There we showed the car on stage and everyone was impressed.” (Quotes via the Motor1 report)
Motor1 goes into further detail on what we can expect this Golf Mk9 to be, per technical development head Kai Grünitz. It throws back to the Mk4 Golf (which itself was a jump forward from past Golf generations when it first hit the scene in 1997), but with a “timeless” look to it. The next-generation model will ride on two separate platforms. One will underpin the EV (a new SSB platform), which Grünitz says is “96-97 percent done”, while the other (MQB Evo) will underpin combustion versions. Alongside a fully electric Golf, VW will continue to sell ICE models and a plug-in hybrid variant, at least in some markets.
What could we see in America?
In terms of what the Volkswagen Golf Mk9 is shaping up to be, Schäfer said in the interview that this could well be the best one yet. “And it’s incredible what you can do with a car where, you know, you think, how can you make it even better? But the team has created a design that has left all of us speechless: without a doubt, the best we’ve ever seen. So I’m very happy, and I’m sure we’ll deliver something that will make a lot of people happy.”
Now, Volkswagen reassured enthusiasts back in January that it’s gas-powered hot hatches aren’t going anywhere. Even as European emissions regulations continue to tighten — Euro 7 standards take effect this November — the company says it will continue to develop its EA888 Evo powertrain to comply. The fifth-generation version of that engine is coming to America with the new Atlas (already on sale in China as the Teramont Pro), while we continue to see the EA888 in the Tiguan, too.
While a manual transmission may not be on the table as VW phased it out with the Mk8.5 update, it’s also an exciting prospect that the next-gen hot hatches could get even more powerful. We’ll have to see exactly how the Golf lineup shakes out for the U.S., since we’ll probably just continue to get the GTI and Golf R, and not the standard Golf models. Anything’s still possible at this point, though I’m excited to see what the Mk9 models will look like, and it doesn’t sound like we have too terribly long to wait.
