It seems hard to believe but, the Volkswagen Golf celebrates its 50th birthday this year and is doing so with a revised version featuring up-specced infotainment with ChatGPT integration and a new plug-in hybrid with around 100 km available on all-electric power.
In terms of design, the new Golf features a sharper front end, 3D light graphics on the tail light clusters and, for the first time, an illuminated Volkswagen badge on the front.
Thomas Schäfer, CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars, says: “The Golf has been at the heart of the Volkswagen brand for half a century now, offering affordable mobility for all at the highest technical level.
“This is precisely what we are now building on with the new evolutionary stage – with even higher efficiency, comfort and quality and a new operating concept. The Golf does not get any better than this.”
Also new are the enhanced multi-function steering wheel and new IDA2 voice assistant. Using natural language, the IDA can be used not only to control functions such as the air-conditioning, telephone or navigation system, but also to access online information from all conceivable areas – from weather forecasts to general knowledge questions.
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The new plug-in hybrid drives in the Volkswagen Golf offer increased power and an electric range of about 100 km, and are additionally equipped with a DC quick-charging function. The highly efficient 48 V mild hybrid drives are particularly appealing for drivers who have no charging wall box at home. Mild hybrid (eTSI), plug-in hybrid (eHybrid1 and GTE1), turb-ocharged petrol (TSI) and turbo-charged diesel (TDI) variants will be available for the product line in the launch phase.
The first series-produced Golf was built at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg at the end of March 1974. The official launch began in May. Prior to this, the Beetle and thus the combination of a rear-mounted engine and rear-wheel drive had shaped the Volkswagen brand for decades. At the beginning of the 1970s, the first Golf – like the Passat, the Scirocco and the Polo – marked the start of the front-mounted engine and front-wheel drive combination.
To date, more than 37-million Golfs have been sold across eight generations.
Colin Windell
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