Volkswagen has put development of the all-electric Golf on hold as it tries to cut costs. Electrek reported the pause on Friday, citing an internal memo seen by Reuters.
What happened
VW Group reported a third-quarter operating loss of 5.9 billion euros ($6.5 billion), which Electrek describes as its largest quarterly loss since the Dieselgate scandal in 2015. The causes listed were a write-down of its Porsche stake, weak sales in China and lower profit margins on electric vehicles. Group CFO and COO Arno Antlitz said the company cannot afford to lose time and must act quickly.
In the memo, VW brand CEO Thomas Schafer said the company simply cannot afford the Golf work right now. The Wolfsburg plant, which he described as the heart of the VW brand, is about 300 million euros ($334.5 million) short of its cost-cutting targets. Schafer also said the decision was not an easy one.
The timeline
- Original plan: a Golf EV launch in 2028.
- Earlier this year: Schafer confirmed a delay to closer to 2030. Electrek says he suggested the cause was the Scalable Systems Platform (SSP), developed with Rivian, taking longer than expected.
- Now: development is paused. VW’s works council says the pause will not push back the launch and that lost time will be made up. The car is still expected in 2030.
The electric Golf is expected to be called the ID. Golf and to be among the first vehicles on the SSP. Electrek reports that production of the electric model is planned for Wolfsburg closer to the end of the decade, while the gas-powered Golf moves to Mexico in 2027.
Context: Future Plan 2030
The pause follows VW’s Supervisory Board approving its restructuring strategy, Future Plan 2030, last month. Electrek says it includes cutting 100,000 jobs globally, trimming the lineup and closing several plants in Germany.
Will an affordable German electric hatchback arrive?
The honest answer is that nobody outside VW knows. The official line is still 2030, but this is a company that has already moved the date once and has now stopped the engineering work. My analysis: a pause that the works council says will be recovered is plausible, yet the claim is untested, and a platform that is itself running late leaves little slack. Buyers who want an affordable electric hatchback in the US should not plan around this car. Neither source states a price, and neither says whether the ID. Golf would be sold in the US.
Home charging note
With a launch this far out, there is nothing to plan a charger around yet. If you are shopping for a home charger now, pick one for the car you will drive in the next few years, and check your specific vehicle’s charge port type before you buy. That is general advice, not something from the sources.
Sources
- Electrek: Volkswagen hits pause on the Golf EV as it faces an urgent need for action
- Reuters: VW suspends development of new Golf at main plant
Photo: Charles01 (cropped by User3204) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. The photo shows a current-generation combustion Golf GTI in Wolfsburg, not the ID. Golf.