Report: Next-generation, Entry-level Volkswagen Golf Not Bound for U.S.

It sounds like something that should be taken with a grain of salt, though recent sales figures back up a report that claims the basic version of the eighth-generation Volkswagen Golf won’t make it to the United States.

The regular, non-performance version of VW’s long-running hatch wins praise for offering budget fun and above-par fit and finish, but the current generation’s replacement might not come here without GTI or R lettering on the back.

Motor1 reports that a Volkswagen employee at a first drive event in California said the regular Golf won’t return when the next-gen model arrives in 2020, and neither will a SportWagen variant. When contacted, the automaker reportedly wouldn’t comment on the employee’s statement.

The next-gen Golf is expected to see the light of day in October, making its way stateside sometime in 2020. While its platform remains the same as the Mk7 model, and its profile and footprint stay true to tradition, styling changes and a mild-hybrid powertrain await.

It seems unconscionable that VW would drop the Golf in favor of the hotter GTI and hottest R, but there’s no avoiding the fact that buyers are straying from the nameplate in huge numbers. Golf sales fell 51 percent in the U.S. last year and 20 percent in the first four months of 2019. In 2018, Americans took home 6,642 Golfs, compared to 16,684 turbocharged GTIs.

Volkswagen’s Golf R, the definitive hot hatch, saw 3,468 buyers last year, meaning basic Golfs weren’t even twice as popular as the significantly pricer performance model. SportWagen sales, including the relatively recent all-wheel drive Alltrack, totalled 14,123 units in 2018, down 47 percent from a year earlier, and 2019 sales show a 51-percent year-to-date drop.

The new-for-2019 Jetta, on the other hand, shows a 63-percent year-to-date increase this year, with sales totalling 30,834 units (to the basic Golf’s 2,159). Meanwhile, the higher-margin Tiguan and Atlas continue to climb. In 2019, as automakers face leaner years ahead, cost cutting runs rampant, and Volkswagen needs all the streamlining it can manage in order to fulfill its electric vehicle promises.

Again, the Golf’s future is a question mark. A VW spokesperson tells RoadShow that the basic next-gen model’s appearance in America remains “under consideration,” but factors exist to back up a decision to discontinue the U.S.-market Golf while keeping pricier variants alive.

(Update: Volkswagen of America’s head of product communications, Mark Gilles, reiterated the message given to RoadShow in an email to TTAC. The next-gen GTI and R are confirmed, while the basic Golf and SportWagen remain under consideration for the U.S. market.)

[Image: Volkswagen]