Volkswagen on Friday confirmed plans for a new electric version of the Golf hatchback, to be built in Wolfsburg, Germany, starting later in the decade.
A more specific timeline wasn’t given, but VW confirmed the Golf will be one of several EVs based on its next-generation dedicated EV platform, known as SSP. Announced in 2021, SSP is due to be a unified platform replacing VW’s wide range of current internal-combustion and electric platforms.
SSP will serve as a successor to both the MEB platform that underpins the current VW ID.4 and ID.Buzz, as well as the upcoming ID.7 sedan, and the Premium Platform Electric (PPE)—the latter of which hasn’t even been introduced yet. PPE is scheduled to debut with the Porsche Macan Electric, slated to go on sale in 2024, with other Porsche and Audi models to follow.
Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, Germany
SSP will get its debut in a model so far called Project Trinity and due around 2026, using a new unified prismatic cell strategy and potentially solid-state tech not long after.
The electric Golf will likely appear sometime after Project Trinity, a flagship model intended to showcase new tech. In April, VW brand boss Thomas Schaefer said in an interview that the brand isn’t planning new gasoline and diesel versions of the Golf, but would instead replace the internal-combustion models with a new EV bearing the Golf name around 2028.
VW produced over 100,000 e-Golf hatchbacks, sharing a platform with gasoline and diesel seventh-generation Golf models. But Schaefer’s comments indicate this new electric Golf will be the sole version to wear the nameplate.
2017 Volkswagen e-Golf
That’s not to be confused with the Golf-like ID.2all model, which VW has already said will be engineered for low production costs and a low sticker price and be based on a variant of the MEB platform called MEB Entry. It’s due to arrive in 2025 for Europe.
That said, VW has hinted that it might be bringing the ID.2all to the U.S. with a sporty twist, as suggested by the ID.GTI Concept shown earlier this month. The GTI name is mostly associated with the Golf, but VW has applied it sporty versions of other models, such as the Polo GTI, in some markets.