Volkswagen delays electric Golf as Wolfsburg costs bite

Volkswagen’s plans to reinvent the Golf as a fully electric hatchback have hit a speed bump, with reports out of Europe suggesting the project is being pushed back due to cost pressures at the company’s Wolfsburg factory.

According to Bloomberg, citing company insiders, the expense of retooling VW’s flagship plant for the ninth-generation Golf has proven too high to fund immediately, forcing the brand to defer spending and delay the car’s launch by around nine months.

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The setback also affects Wolfsburg’s other big EV project, the electric T-Roc. Production of the compact crossover will reportedly begin only after the first electric Golf eventually rolls off the line.

Volkswagen had originally planned to shift production of the current Mk8 Golf to Mexico from 2027, freeing Wolfsburg for EV output. However, the delay means the existing hatch and wagon may continue in Germany longer than intended.

The ninth-generation Golf will be one of the first VW Group models to sit on the all-new Scalable Systems Platform (SSP), a versatile architecture designed for electric vehicles but capable of supporting range-extended hybrids. SSP is also the basis of VW’s broader push into “software-defined vehicles,” developed in collaboration with Rivian.

When it does arrive, the electric Golf won’t immediately replace the current model. VW has indicated the Mk8 could remain on sale into the mid-2030s, depending on how European emissions legislation evolves. While the EU is set to ban new combustion car sales from 2035, that decision will be reviewed later this year, with pressure from automakers potentially softening the rules.

The delay comes as the Golf’s once-dominant position continues to erode. Production has fallen sharply from more than one million units in 2015 to just 300,000 last year, with the crossover T-Roc now outselling its hatchback cousin.

Still, electric adoption in Europe is accelerating, with EVs accounting for 17.4 per cent of new car sales through July – up from 13.8 per cent a year earlier. Volkswagen hopes the arrival of lower-cost models such as the upcoming ID.2 and ID.1 will help attract more buyers, while the electric Golf remains a crucial piece in its long-term strategy.