Volkswagen Golf's Long-Term Future Comes Into Focus

The eighth-generationVolkswagen Golfis not sold in the US but its high-performance variants, theGTIand Golf R live on. For now. As long as there's a standard Golf hatchback to base them on, VW will keep both hot hatches going. But what if the rest of the world loses interest in the Golf andswitches to the ID.3, corporate cousin of the ID.4. What then?

Top Gearposed this scenario to VW's head of sales and marketing, Klaus Zellmer, and he was surprisingly upfront. "I think for the foreseeable future the Golf [and the ID.3] will co-exist because the Golf is just too important. It's like a sub-brand. It's an icon," he said.

But, things are changing at a fast pace and VW may have no choice but to eventually alter its thinking. A ninth-generation Golf is definitely happening, though it's likely to be a plug-in hybrid only model. Beyond that is where things get hazy.

"If we ever see the speed of transforming from engines to purely battery-electric vehicles is building momentum sustainably, I can see - if we do not need a combustion car anymore - that we can use that badge to sell a battery-electric vehicle. This is years down the road," he added. As for the GTI's and R's future post-ninth-gen model, Zellmer couldn't provide a direct answer because there really isn't one right now.