Only Three Iconic VW Names Will Be Safe As The Brand Moves Towards EVs

Sep. 05, 2023 4:22 PM ET byCesar Miguel Industry News /8 Comments

The rest of the lineup could change dramatically.

It's no secret that Volkswagen is working towards a fully electric future. As such, many are concerned about what will happen to its iconic badges. In a report fromTop Gear, however, Volkswagen boss Thomas Shaefer recently declared that the Golf,Tiguan, and GTI will be carried on and are "safe."

This statement by Shaefer happened during the IAA Mobility/Munich Motor Show when theID. GTI concept was revealed. During the event, the VW boss added that the automaker chose the ID badge for the aforementioned upcoming model as its size didn't exactly match what a typical Golf would be.

Speaking withAuto Express, he said, "We will put the Golf probably directly on SSP [Scalable Systems Platform]. We have a renewed Golf next year, and then that'll carry us nicely into a time where we can make the decision whether we bring it straight away or a little bit later. But there will be a Golf, and it will be a true Golf in terms of package, drivability."

When quizzed on its arrival, he replied, "In 2028, probably."

As for theGolf R, he said, "GTI is two-wheel drive. The R technically is the four-wheel drive. It'll probably only be with the SSP platform because, with R, you need to really put another level on. To do that with MEB+ [the upcoming iteration of VW's current all-electric platform] would be a stretch, and it's got to be four-wheel drive in that space. So we decided we keep that on. We have the R line anyway, but we're going to have all the ICE models that will still be available as an R in a Golf, but then we'll switch to SSP."

This confirms what was previously said about the Golf surviving until the end of the decade with combustion, and it also gives us clues as to the future of the GTX nameplate for high-performance EVs. This may be repurposed or killed off entirely, and the same is true of the ID range, which will be redundant after 2033 if VW does go all-electric by then. Schaefer was very clear that this is not definite, as changing world conditions and legislature could alter the plan. It also depends partly on how customers respond to the ID nomenclature, and if it proves popular, it could well soldier on. Either way, at least three major names, includingGTI, will survive in some form, which suggests the rest of VW's range could be reinvented over the next decade. Time will tell.