Volkswagen Golf Wagon Getting Yet Another Name Change in Canada

Mark Stevenson
by Mark Stevenson

If you go through Volkswagen’s historical model catalogue, you’ll notice many occurrences of the exact same model sporting unique names in the U.S. and Canadian markets.

For example, Volkswagen marketed the last-generation Jetta Wagon in the United States as the Golf Wagon in Canada beginning in 2010. Roll ahead to present day, Volkswagen has called its Golf SportWagen (U.S.) the Golf Sportwagon in Canada since 2015.

Thankfully, that’s about to change.

According to Volkswagen Canada representative Thomas Tetzlaff, the Canadian outpost will drop the Sportwagon name in favor of the name used in the United States — SportWagen.

“That’s the name and we like it!” Tetzlaff exclaimed in an email to TTAC.

The name change goes into effect for the 2017 model year, the same year Volkswagen welcomes the Alltrack trim to the SportWagen family.

There have been few differences between the models Volkswagen offers in the United States versus what it offers in Canada. Recently, Volkswagen offered “City” versions of its Golf and Jetta in Canada, which were slightly refreshed versions of previous-generation models sold at bargain-basement prices. Volkswagen did not offer those vehicles in the United States.

Mark Stevenson
Mark Stevenson

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  • Psarhjinian Psarhjinian on Aug 22, 2016

    Deck chairs. Titanic.

  • 30-mile fetch 30-mile fetch on Aug 22, 2016

    I'd rather they just call it the Golf Estate. Sounds more dignified and upscale than the wagon-wagon alliteration of the current name, looks better in print, it's already called this in the UK, and dealers/owners will just call it a "Golf wagon" anyway. Consulting fee, please....

  • Edgarof323 Edgarof323 on Aug 22, 2016

    It would be nice if Mr. Tetzlaff [formerly Mr. TDI of VW Canada] would send an email to the 10,000 suffering Canadian TDI owners waiting for some kind of positive response from this company. People in Canada are fed up with VW regardless of what they call their cars.

  • Phillin_Phresh Phillin_Phresh on Aug 22, 2016

    Especially in the NA market, VW likes to create a lot of fanfare around their "German Engineering". Aside from being cheesy and obnoxious, it's disingenuous at a time when VW is actively cheapening and de-contenting their lineup.

    • Luke42 Luke42 on Aug 22, 2016

      VW has managed to debase the idea of "German Engineering". Its really a multi-pronged attack. They flanked what "German Engineering" supposedly stood for by cheating on emissions, and the poor reliability has been a frontal assault on what "German Engineering" was supposed to stand for. Pisses me off, especially since I'm an American software engineer with a German surname. Don't fsck with my heritage, VW!

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