The Mk 8.5 Golf is being looked into for the South African market. Image: Volkswagen
Volkswagen has hinted at the possibility of keeping the combustion engine Golf 8.5 in production until 2035 as an alternative to the all-electric Mk 9 due in 2026.
Following the same route as the Mk 7.5, the Mk 8.5 serves as an updated version of the Golf 8 that debuted in 2019, which in turn makes use of the MQB platform that premiered with the Mk 7 in 2012.
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Either sold next to or where the Mk 9 won’t be marketed, the supposed extension of the Mk 8.5, and therefore the Mk 8, will result in an effective lifespan of 16 years, the most of any generation Golf bar the Mk I that lived on as the CitiGolf in South Africa till 2009.
Its prolonging being attributed to the United Nations replacing the controversial Euro 7 emissions regulations with the less stringent Euro 6e or EU6e, plus the slowdown in EV sales in Europe, Volkswagen’s Head of Technical Development, Kai Grünitz, indicated that this could lead to Volkswagen not relying solely on the Mk 9 as believed until now.
Back in May, Volkswagen Group CEO, Thomas Schäfer, said the EU6e’s structure has made it possible for Polo sales to continue as opposed to replacing it fully with the all-electric ID.2all from 2026.
Similar to the Golf, the current Polo, made exclusively at the Kariega Plant in the Eastern Cape, had been expected to bow-out entirely in Europe as a result of the EU7 regulations, which former Volkswagen South Africa boss Schäfer said would have it too expensive and not worth keeping around.
“We had a very good plan, where we thought EU7 was an insurmountable hurdle that would accelerate electrification. And that basically replaces the combustion engine in small vehicles like the Polo, as cars become so expensive, there is no point carrying on,” Schäfer told Britain’s Autocar at the Los Angeles International Auto Show two years ago.
Confirming the Golf’s retention till 2035, the year in which combustion engine vehicles are still set to be banned fully in Europe, Grünitz told Top Gear Netherlands that the lifecycle extended Mk 8.5 won’t move to a new platform as the MQB has been fully developed and in no need of extensive tweaking.
Whereas the Mk 9 will move to the dedicated electric MEB platform that underpins the ID range of models, the MQB-based Mk 8.5 will, nonetheless, receive interior and exterior revisions to keep it up-to-date over the next 11 years.
Grünitz, however, told the publication that stricter crash regulations could eventually dictate how long the Mk 8.5 remains in production, as these are likely to prove costly in the long-run.
For the time being, the Golf 8, in GTI and R guises, prevails in South Africa as plans to bring the Mk 8.5 is still shrouded in mystery.
Given the focus on the Polo and Polo Vivo, the mystery SUV set for local assembly in 2026, and the declining C-hatch segment, don’t be surprised if the Mk 8.5 doesn’t come to South Africa at some stage.
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