Current Golf 8 R will be updated in 2024 and become the Golf 8.5 R. Image: Volkswagen.
Volkswagen has indicated that the 2028-due ninth generation Golf will spawn a performance R model above the GTI, but as an EV and based on the incoming Porsche developed Scalable Systems Platform (SSP).
Set to be the first dedicated all-electric R model Wolfsburg will debut two years before becoming a full electric brand, the retention of the R brand comes just under two years after a similar assurance by then divisional head Reinhold Ivenz.
“The globally successful products from Volkswagen R are part of this exciting change process and will stand in [the] future for sustainable electric mobility,” Britain’s Autocar quoted him as saying.
Addressing the latest speculation of the R brand, Volkswagen Passenger Brand CEO Thomas Schafer said the renewal of the Golf for a ninth generation as an EV will result in the updated Mk 8.5 becoming the final Golf, and therefore also R, to be powered by an internal combustion engine.
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Back in April, former Volkswagen South Africa boss Schafer remarked that a decision had been made to keep Golf for another generation on its own instead of integrating it with the dedicated ID brand to become the ID. Golf.
In addition to confirming the switch to the SSP architecture, Schafer told Britain’s Auto Express on the sidelines of the IAA in Munich last week that the Golf 9 R will remain all-wheel-drive, whereas the GTI will prevail with front-wheel-drive.
“GTI is two-wheel drive. The R technically is the four-wheel drive. It’ll probably only be with the SSP platform because with R you need to really put another level on,” he said.
“So we decided we keep that on. We have the R Line anyway, but we’re going to have all the internal combustion engine models that will still be available as an R in a Golf, but then we’ll switch to SSP”.
Ruling out the possibility of the Golf adopting the GTX moniker used on performance EV variants of the ID.4 and soon, the ID Buzz, Schafer said, “GTX was just an interim for the battery electric one, but we’re probably going to merge that [with R] in the long run”.
Known to be undergoing testing at present, the Golf 8.5 will make its debut early next year and besides being the final to offer a combustion engine, will also take leave of the manual gearbox available since the unveiling of the Mk 1 in 1974.
The same will apply the R that had been equipped with three-pedals, albeit only in the United States where sales have remained high.
For now, it remains to be seen whether the 8.5 will be introduced to South Africa in lieu of the Mk 8 being solely offered in GTI and R guises following the decision three years ago not make the regular Golf available in South Africa.
While still to be confirmed, it seems likely that the Golf 8.5 could be moniker’s final local market encore should approval be given Volkswagen.
As is stands though, expect an announcement about the Golf’s future to be made only in 2027 when the Golf 8.5’s lifecycle comes to an end.
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