Volkswagen is getting ever-closer to revealing the Mk9 Golf, the first generation of the long-standing model to go fully electric.
While the Golf will also continue to be sold with petrol engines and plug-in hybrid power in certain markets, the new-generation model will be exclusively battery powered, representing the biggest shift for the nameplate since its introduction in 1974.
Last month Volkswagen provided the first teaser of what the Mk9 Golf will look like to members of Germany’s IG Metall union, and now the brand’s head of technical design, Kai Grünitz, has said it will hark back to the shape of the Mk4 Golf.
“It’s reminiscent of the Golf Mk4, which was a big step forward,” Grünitz told Motor1 Spain.
“But it’s a modern-looking vehicle, a timeless-looking vehicle. I think you’re going to love it.
“From a design standpoint, our new electric Golf is already 96–97 percent done. We started with a proportions model with Andy [Mindt, Volkswagen Group head of design]. And it was already so good that Thomas Schäfer [Volkswagen CEO] and I joined in and said, ‘Hey, don’t touch anything’.”
The Mk4 Golf launched in 1997 – more than 30 years before the planned 2028 arrival date of the Mk9 – as the first iteration of the model to go upmarket, with a greater focus on offering a premium experience.
Volkswagen’s Mk9 Golf silhouette shares similarities with the Mk4, which was the last of the hatchbacks to retain a rounded-off but boxy exterior design.
According to Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer, the design of the Mk4 Golf is “the best we’ve ever seen”.
“I’m very confident about the launch of the Golf [Mk]9,” he said.
“It’s being developed in an absolutely correct way. 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.”
Little is known about the new Golf, other than it’ll be built in Wolfsburg on the upcoming Scalable Systems Platform (SSP), however a launch date is yet to be formally announced, with previous reports suggesting an initial debut of 2027 was pushed back to 2028 – and even 2029 has been rumoured.
While it is a landmark model for Volkswagen and in the history of the Golf, the arrival of the Mk9 EV won’t come at the cost of petrol-powered Golfs in the German brand’s lineup.
Instead, the current Mk8.5 Golf’s production will move to Mexico from 2027, and likely be the new home of the traditional Golf GTI.
It’s expected that the Golf GTI will continue on the MQB Evo platform that it’s currently based on, though the Golf R is understood to be exclusively based on the SSP EV architecture.
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