Next Golf GTI will be electric

The next generation Golf GTI is set to be electric, bringing an iconic Volkswagen (VW) badge into the battery-powered era.

According to Autocar, which quoted inside sources at VW, the upcoming electric VW ID2 will adopt the Golf name when it goes on sale in 2025. The ID2 was initially mooted as an SUV-like electric alternative to the T-Cross, but will reportedly be launched as a hatchback instead, like the ID3 hatch launched in 2019.

It isn’t known whether the car will replace the petrol-powered Golf 8, which was launched in 2019 or sell alongside it.

Autocar sources said the ID2 will be the first VW based on the MEB-Plus platform, an updated version of today’s MEB electric car structure that features new LFP (lithium iron phosphate) prismatic battery cells and charging speeds of up to 200kW. 

In October 2022, Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer told Autocar that the Golf name has huge value and to change the name to something completely different did not make sense.

VW is part of a mass move to electric power by the automotive industry due to growing regulatory moves, including forthcoming bans on sales of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.

By 2035, the world’s major automotive markets — the US, EU, and China — are expected to sell only electric vehicles (EVs), and by 2050, up to 80% of the world’s vehicle sales are expected to be electric.

The VW brand will only produce electric cars in Europe from 2033 and the company’s goal is to dethrone Tesla as the world’s top seller of EVs by 2025.

The ID3 hatch and ID4 SUV will become VW’s first EVs to go on sale in SA either late in 2023 or early 2024, according to Steffen Knapp, head of VW passenger cars in SA.