Volkswagen will certainly sell the Gas Golf GTI ‘in the 1920s’

After lost his manual gearbox, the Golf GTI is not as desirable as before. You could claim that the quality of the inside has taken a hit compared to the excellent MK7. Not that the Gedge TConsumption INjectie once had an exciting design, but the MK8 may look too modest. Despite all this, VW makes at least efforts to keep the car alive in a shrinking segment. The gradual downfall of gas -driven hot shuts is accelerated by stricter emission rules and higher loads, especially in Europe.

Better yet, VW promises to keep the Golf GTI around for a long time. Speaking at the Nürburgring with VW enthusiast Jamie Orr, the boss of the automaker was asked if the car still has a future in the company’s increasingly electrified line up. CEO Thomas Schäfer promised to sell the hatchback from the gas-fed performance well into the following decade: “Absolutely in the 2030s, still strong presence of the ice vehicles.”

His next explanation, however, worries us: “Probably a bit electrified.” Perhaps VW is planning to give the Golf GTI a hybrid setup at some point? It has already happened with the GTE, a plug-in hybrid version that was not sold in the United States. Whether the two will be merged at a given moment is unclear, although we hope that Schäfer referred to a mild-hybrid system to minimize the weight penalty.

It is also worth noting that the GTE does not have the 2.0-liter engine, but rather a smaller 1.5-liter unit, linked to an electric motor powered by a 19.4 kWh battery. While the GTE supplies 268 hp, the GTI offers up to 320 hp in the new, non-American edition 50. Speaking of forbidden fruits, the US also misses the 296 hp clubsport, which remain both front-wheel drive such as the regular GTI.

Whatever VW is the GTI, Schäfer, referred to the current generation model. Wolfsburg has already confirmed that the ninth-gene golf, which must be this decade later, will only be electric. Kai Grünitz, the board member who is responsible for technical development, strongly suggested last year that the MK8 could stay up to 2035, when the European Union intends to ban the sale of new cars with burning. That would mean that VW would at the same time sell two generations of the Golf five to six years before he fully switched to the Electric MK9.