Volkswagen ID Golf: historic hatchback to be reinvented with all-electric power
The ninth-generation Volkswagen Golf will be offered with pure electric power from the outset, with some swish new tech...
In many ways, the next-generation Volkswagen Golf is quite similar to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – a man who started out as a WWE wrestler who eventually completely reinvented himself as a Hollywood actor. And the Golf is doing much the same thing – only instead of the big screen, it’s moving towards pure electric power.
Indeed, due to arrive in 2028 or 2029, the new VW Golf will be totally revamped as an all-electric car with brand new underpinnings. Shown in our artists impression, it’ll rival the likes of the next BMW 1 Series and cheaper options like the MG4 EV.
There have been electric versions of the Golf since the early 1980s and the now-defunct e-Golf of 2017 (pictured below) – but this upcoming car will be the first to be engineered purely with all-electric power. It’ll likely carry over the historic Golf name, but will merge with Volkswagen’s ‘ID’ moniker which denotes its electric cars – and so the ID Golf could be born.
It’ll be underpinned by Volkswagen’s new technology, dubbed SSP, which should get some advanced hardware and software. One upgrade the Golf is due to get is some ultra-rapid charging. No official figures have been revealed yet, but the new SSP technology should be able to complete a 10-80% top-up in just 12 minutes, compared with 35 minutes for the current MEB platform technology that underpins most electric Volkswagens.
That new tech should also support autonomous driving up to level four, which puts the car in charge of all driving functions without intervention from the driver. This level of autonomy isn’t yet legal on British roads, but this could change in the next year thanks to legislation – known as the Automated Vehicles (AV) Act – passed in 2024.
No battery sizes or range figures have been revealed yet, either, but it’s expected that the upcoming ID Golf could achieve upwards of 400 miles between charges in its most efficient form. For reference, the current VW ID 3 can manage up to 369 miles, while the upcoming electric Audi A3 is targeted to achieve 435 miles.
It’s likely that the ID Golf will retain some design cues reminiscent of previous models, though Volkswagen has asserted that it won’t be retro-inspired. Hot GTI and R performance variants will also spawn alongside the regular model.
The new electric ID Golf will be built at Volkswagen’s facility in Wolfsburg, Germany, while production of the current combustion model will be moved to Mexico in 2027 – meaning that they will both be on sale alongside each other.
The combustion model will be offered solely in plug-in hybrid form in the UK until 2035, from which point all new car sales must be purely electric. The current Golf eHybrid offers 201bhp and 88 miles of official electric range, while the GTE (which is the PHEV version of the high-performance GTI) pumps out a punchier 268bhp and can officially travel 82 miles on a single charge.
It’s not yet revealed how the ID Golf will look inside, especially given its brand new tech, but Volkswagen has stated that its upcoming models will get physical buttons for climate controls, radio volume and hazard warning lights among other key features, instead of the controversial touch-sensitive controls of previous models, including the current Golf.
The ID Golf might take some inspiration from the interiors of VW’s other upcoming models. For example, 2027 ID 1 comes equipped with a large central touchscreen and Android Auto and Apple Carplay compatibility. That car also gets a rail-mounted centre console, which can slide back and forth between the front and rear seats. However, it seems that the ID Golf will not sit on the same underpinnings as the ID 1, so there may be some discrepancies.
The VW ID Golf is set to arrive in either 2028 or 2029. No prices have been revealed yet, but we’d expect them to start at around £30,000 – around what the current ID 3 costs. That undercuts the Cupra Born, but is more expensive than the MG4.
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