Wolfsburg - Volkswagen’s eighth-generation Golf is not due to be revealed until this October, but the company’s shareholders got the closest sneak preview of it to date at the 2019 Annual General Meeting held recently.
Thankfully the sketches also made their way into a PDF document that was posted onto the company’s website after the event, so we also get a closer look at the car’s front end design and its highly digitised cabin.
As you can see the eighth Golf follows an evolutionary path on the outside, but things are decidedly more revolutionary on the inside (see sketch below), where the dashboard has been completely reconfigured, with the infotainment screen now positioned at the top of the dash, where it flows into the instrument cluster, which will also be digital.
Not much official information was released, but the company is promising the latest in connectivity and a more electrified drivetrain line-up:
“This new version will again set the benchmark in the compact class: in terms of consumption and CO2 emissions, driving comfort, workmanship and connectivity. The car is fully connected and has a 48-volt mild hybrid drive for the first time,” Volkswagen said.
Interestingly, diesel isn’t dying with this generation of Golf, with the company promising that oil-burning variants will be launched alongside conventional petrol and plug-in hybrid models. The latter will offer an electric-only range of up to 80km, according to the document.
Watch this space in October for the full-lowdown on the next chapter of VW's iconic hatch.