Volkswagen has once again pushed back the launch of the highly anticipated Mk9 Golf, with CEO Thomas Schäfer announcing it won’t arrive by 2028 as planned.
As reported by the UK’s Autocar, Schäfer made the announcement at the Financial Times’ “Future of the Car” event, confirming rumours which have circulated in recent months.
“We have a fantastic line-up now that we do not need an electric Golf in 2028,” Schäfer said.
“We are well set with what we have in our portfolio with our vehicles.”
The electric Mk9 Golf was initially expected to launch in 2027, before being delayed to 2028 a couple of years ago.
It’s understood the latest push back in the timeline is centred around the upcoming Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) which will underpin the Golf and other Volkswagen Group products, with the 800-volt architecture now expected to first roll out into more premium products.
“SSP, we will roll it out across the [VW Group] brands. We will start with the premium brands first… It will start with Audi, then Porsche, then us [VW] and on and on,” Schäfer added.
“It sounds like we take so long, but for us we are looking at scale and you have to have scale in this game or you’ll never make margin parity.”
According to the executive, “increased competition” in the market – mainly from new Chinese players – led to Volkswagen adjusting its pricing expectations for the electric Golf, something which required it to “redo the maths” on the entire platform.
The Golf will also continue to be sold with petrol engines and plug-in hybrid power in certain markets, however the new-generation model will be exclusively battery powered and likely adopt the ID Golf name, 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, with head of technical design, Kai Grünitz, recently saying its shape will hark back to the Mk4 Golf.
“It’s reminiscent of the Golf Mk4, which was a big step forward,” Grünitz told Motor1 Spain.
Mk9 Volkswagen Golf to take inspiration from 30-year-old hatchback
“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 and I joined in and said, ‘Hey, don’t touch anything’.”
Schäfer separately said the design of the Mk9 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.”
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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