AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/03 Report--

Thomas Schaefer, head of the Volkswagen brand, said in an interview that Volkswagen no longer plans to develop a new generation of Golf internal combustion engines, meaning that the series sold since 1974 will come to an end. According to previous foreign media reports, the ninth generation of golf may be converted to pure electric models, but the name "Golf" will not be cancelled and will coexist with ID.3.

The eighth generation of golf was released in October 2019, nearly 50 years after the birth of the first generation of golf.

The first generation of golf was born in 1974 and was operated by Master Giorgiaro himself, which opened the classic legend of golf, and the first generation of models were successful. The second generation of golf was launched in 1983, the appearance design of this generation of models has made limited changes on the basis of inheriting the previous generation of models, but the size has been fully upgraded, and the internal space has also been greatly improved.

After polishing the first two generations of models, the more rounded third-generation golf was released in 1991. Since the third generation of golf, it has been introduced into the Chinese market through imports, but because of its high price, it does not have a strong sense of existence in the domestic market and belongs to the toys of the rich. At the same time, the third-generation golf launched the travel version for the first time, and the launch of the VR6 model became the ancestor of six-cylinder golf, even overshadowing the later launch of the third-generation golf GTI.

The fourth generation of golf was born in 1997 and was made domestically by FAW-Volkswagen in 2003, but its response to the market is not as good as that of its brother Bora in the same period. Later, FAW-Volkswagen launched the Bora HS based on the fourth generation of golf, which was discontinued in 2008. The most unforgettable thing about this generation of golf is the launch of the R32. The 0-100km/h acceleration time of 6.2 seconds represents the peak level of the "small steel cannon" of that period, and the golf R32 has a very high rate of preservation due to its scarce production and strong performance.

When FAW-Volkswagen put into production of golf, the fifth generation golf was in the European division, but because of the loneliness of the fourth generation golf in the domestic market after the launch of the product, the fifth generation golf was not well-known in China, and finally did not achieve domestic production, only the GTI model was introduced in 2007, but its hatchback version was a blockbuster in the domestic market, and we can also see the love of the hatchback car at that time.

Volkswagen invested so much technology in the fifth-generation golf that it failed to upgrade the core technology in the development of the sixth-generation golf, which is more like a revamp of the fifth-generation model, and even the core GTI model follows some of the designs of the previous generation GTI W12-650s. Starting with this generation of models, the high-performance version of R+ has officially changed its name to Golf R. This generation of golf is once again domestically made and recognized by the market. With the success of the ordinary version, GTI went out of Wolfsburg for the first time to be mass produced in China, and Golf R was introduced into the Chinese market for the first time.

Just four years after the launch of the previous generation of models, Volkswagen launched the seventh generation of golf in 2012. This generation of models are built on the Volkswagen MQB platform and are soon introduced into the Chinese market, which shows how much VW attaches importance to the Chinese market. Of course, as the latest generation of products, this generation of golf is also the most common product on the road.

In October 2019, the eighth generation of golf was officially launched in Wolfsburg, the birthplace of Volkswagen. The new car is based on the latest version of Volkswagen's MQB platform and is powered by 1.0T three-cylinder engines, 1.5T four-cylinder engines and 2.0T four-cylinder diesel engines. In November 2020, FAW-Volkswagen brand new golf was launched. As a replacement model, the new Golf uses Volkswagen's latest family design language, while officials define this generation of models as "new digital golf", emphasizing the improvement of new cars in terms of digitization and intelligence. In terms of power, the eighth generation Golf offers 1.2T and 1.4T engines for consumers to choose from, in line with previous generation models.

Domestic real contact with golf is from the fourth generation of FAW-Volkswagen, from the PQ platform to the MQB platform, plus the derived GTI and R versions, the evolution of each generation of golf is a topic that everyone likes to talk about. Today, golf has evolved into the eighth generation, but it is more of a change in electrical architecture and software, and there is not much innovation at the mechanical level.

As a classic car owned by Volkswagen, Golf's performance in the domestic market is not bad. As a hatchback, golf competitions include Ford focus, Honda Civic, Nissan Trent, Chevrolet Volando and so on. In contrast, golf with a more fashionable shape and digital blessing, to bring it a certain degree of market competitiveness, new cars on the market will still maintain the existing results. According to the data of the Federation of passengers, there are 81754 golf retail vehicles in 2022, second only to Suiteng, Bora and Maiteng in FAW-Volkswagen.

As Volkswagen accelerates the electrification of its products, more and more classic models are being painted with the words "Passat" in addition to golf. According to the head of the Volkswagen brand, although the Golf may no longer have a new generation of fuel models, it is expected to be revised in the medium term, of course, mainly aimed at the update of appearance and interior design. The mechanical level is not expected to change much. Of course, the suspension of production of classic models such as golf may be inevitable, of course, the trend of new energy vehicles replacing fuel vehicles is particularly obvious, and Volkswagen is just complying with the development of the market.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat