Speaking about the software platform recently, Grünitz said the real benefit was that it was “highly flexible and highly updateable”. He added: “With OTA updates I can introduce new functionality to our customers even after they bought the car, without them needing to bring it in for a service. That means it’s really the next step.”
That ability of the software to control the key hardware elements will be crucial to both GTI and R variants of the Golf and ensure they offer performance that will be recognisable to fans of the combustion-engined versions of those models
The GTI is likely to be offered with two-wheel drive to best replicate its established character, and it will doubtless use the software control of systems such as torque vectoring to put B-road handling to the fore. Meanwhile, the R is expected to get all-wheel drive – probably via a dual-motor set-up – but with more of a focus on handling than the previous dual-motor GTX models.
Existing ICE Golf to remain on sale
The ID Golf will be built at the firm’s main factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, where the Golf has been produced continuously since it was first launched in 1974. To accommodate that, production of the existing combustion-engined model will in 2027 be shifted to Volkswagen’s factory in Mexico, creating space for the production of the new ID Golf to ramp up the following year.
Notably, the current Mk8.5 Golf will be heavily updated and remain on sale alongside the ninth-generation EV. A similar move is being undertaken by Volkswagen Group sibling Porsche with the combustion-powered and electric Cayennes.
In Europe and the UK the ICE Golf will only be offered in plug-in hybrid form while demand and regulations allow – currently until 2035, when all new non-EVs will be banned from sale.
The shift to production in Mexico hints that, as with the Beetle before it, the model could remain on sale for longer in countries that are slower on EV uptake.
The ID Golf will also mark the starting point of another revamp of Volkswagen’s EV line-up. It is likely to be followed by an SUV that will serve to succeed the ID 4, and it could potentially continue the best-selling Tiguan model line.