VW ID. Golf could start at 33,000 euros

The market launch of the next Golf generation is still around five years away. Nevertheless, there is already much speculation about the all-electric successor. Now, there are first details about the base price and the design, rumoured to be reminiscent of an earlier Golf generation.

As Auto, Motor und Sport claims to have learnt, the electric ID. Golf will be “modelled on the Golf IV in terms of proportions and design.” According to the German magazine, the characteristics, such as the wide C-pillar of the Golf IV, will be included. However, it is not clear from the report how exactly the proportions of the fourth-generation Golf can be transferred to the electric age. Electric cars generally have a longer wheelbase and shorter overhangs than comparably sized combustion engines. It creates more space between the axles for the battery, and the smaller electric motors do not require as much space in the engine compartment. The proportions of electric cars on purely electric platforms are thus different.

In principle, the reference to the Golf IV could indicate the ID.Golf’s size. The Golf IV, built between 1997 and 2006, was 4.15 metres long and thus a good deal shorter than the current Golf VIII or the ID.3, which both measure around 4.28 metres. Due to the better space utilisation of electric cars, a 4.15 metre long ID. Golf could offer as much interior space as a Golf VIII with 4.28 metres. There were already rumours that the upcoming electric Golf could be slightly shorter than the ID.3 in 2023.

The electric Golf successor – it remains to be seen whether it will still bear the ID. abbreviation at its premiere – will be based on the new SSP platform, presumably as the first model. The Auto, Motor und Sport now specifies 2029 as the market launch date, which is in line with the latest reports on this topic. There will probably be at least two variants. The affordable basic version is expected to cost around 33,000 euros and offer a range of at least 400 kilometres. With regard to the range, it is added that this value will be achieved “in everyday life and not according to the WLTP standard” – and should thus correspond to a WLTP range of well over 500 kilometres. “For the more expensive variants, VW is planning an actual range of around 600 kilometres, and charging the battery from 10 to 80 per cent should take no longer than 15 minutes,” Auto, Motor und Sport writes.

Later, “well after the market premiere,” there will also be an ID. Golf R – but probably not before 2032 or 2033. It would be the first R model with an electric drive. The VW brand has so far avoided using the combustion engine designations for its electric cars – that is why the sportiest ID. models have been labelled GTX and not GTI. But that will also change: ‘A GTI variant based on the ID.2 will be launched much earlier, around the end of 2026/beginning of 2027, but with an output of well under 200 PS.”

When it comes to software and control, VW also promises that the ID.Golf will be reliable above all else. “Volkswagen has learnt a lot about software. We have even overtaken the competition in many areas, for example, with our electric route planner, the super-fast HMI, and optimised simple operation,” VW Head of Development Kai Grünitz told Auto, Motor und Sport.

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