Volkswagen Golf EV ‘isn’t coming in 2028’
Volkswagen has confirmed that its Golf EV won’t be launched in 2028, insisting that it is “well set” with its existing range of all-electric cars.
The Volkswagen Golf EV was expected to arrive in 2028, and go under the ‘ID Golf’ nameplate. However, Volkswagen CEO, Thomas Schäfer, quashed the idea while speaking at the Financial Times’s ‘Future of the Car’ event in London on May 13.
“We have a fantastic line-up now that we do not need an electric Golf in 2028,” he said. “We are well set with what we have in our portfolio with our vehicles.”
VW has heavily revised its EV line-up for 2026, and promises a return to basics in its approach to electrification. The unpopular designs and haptic interiors of previous ID cars have been dropped in favour of a ‘friendly’ face and physical switchgear.
The new ID Polo is the first the usher in this new era for VW’s electric line-up, and it will be followed by the heavily revised ID 3 Neo and the incoming ID Cross.
Schäfer’s comments suggest that the Golf EV’s delayed arrival date, which is now expected at the end of the decade, is due to VW wanting to give these new electric VWs some market exposure before it launches an all-electric version of its most popular and well-known model.
Another reason behind the reschedule is reported to be a delay in the Golf EV’s all-new SSP platform.
With 800V electrical architecture, more advanced battery technology, and brand new software co-developed with Rivian, SSP was scheduled to arrive in 2028 and bring price parity between the Volkswagen Group’s internal combustion and electric vehicles.
The Golf EV was set to be one of these cars. Instead, Schäfer confirmed, the first models to use the platform will be from Audi and Porsche.
“SSP, we will roll it out across the [VW Group] brands. We will start with the premium brands first. It will start with Audi, then Porsche, then us [VW] and on and on,” he said.
He added that “increased competition”, mostly from new Chinese EV brands, has forced the Volkswagen Group to re-think its EV pricing strategy in relation to the platform’s costs in terms of materials and investment.
