The Mk 8.5 Golf is being looked into for the South African market. Image: Volkswagen
Volkswagen South Africa has broken its silence on speculative reports claiming it had decided against bringing the Golf 8.5 to market in response to the streamlined Golf 8 range comprising only the GTI and R.
Although set to have brought an expansive array of TSI and TDI models to market, the decision to only bring the GTI to South Africa three years ago stemmed from it accounting for the biggest share of Golf 7 and 7.5 sales, plus the declining demand for C-segment hatchbacks compared to SUVs.
Bolstered by the arrival of the R last year, sales of the Golf 8 have remained comparatively high with a total of 578 units moved between January and June according to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers (Naamsa) sales figures.
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Addressing the speculation, Volkswagen South Africa’s Product Manager for Marketing, Gina Handley, said a feasibility investigation has been launched into local market availability, with approval likely to be given only in 2025.
“We are glad that we can offer GTI and R to the market. It would be nice to have had a more expanded range, but we have been very happy with how both models have performed despite not having an entry model,” Handly told The Citizen on the side-lines of the facelift Polo Vivo launch in Gqeberha this week.
“In terms of Golf 8.5, we will be announcing early next year as to what our plans will be”.
At the same time, Handley stated that the replacement for the seven-seat Tiguan Allspace, the Tayron L, is also being considered, but seemingly only from 2025 as well as sales in Europe have yet to start.
Leaked via a series of images submitted to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology office in January as the renamed Tiguan L Pro, the Tayron L will become the Tiguan for North America and seemingly retain the moniker for Europe and South Africa it debuted under in China six years ago.
Compared to the new Tiguan Handley confirmed will become a reality in September, the Tayron L measures 184 mm longer, 80 mm wider and 40 mm taller while also being seven millimetres longer and 20 mm wider than the Allspace.
Besides its future products, attention now focuses on the facelift T-Cross that debuted in a preview capacity at the brand’s product Indaba in February.
Supposed to have gone on-sale around June, the revised model, unveiled in Europe last year, will now make its public showing at the Kyalami Festival of Motoring at the end of this month, followed by the commencing of sales soon after.
Likely to the joined by the already priced facelift Touareg, expectations are that final pricing could be announced then, although for the moment, this is purely speculative and could in fact be released in the run-up to the Kyalami showpiece.
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