VW CEO Thomas Schäfer says the future doesn’t look bright for the Polo either.
03 April 2023 at 2:51 am ET
In an extensive interview with the German publication car week, the CEO of the Volkswagen brand, Thomas Schäfer, spoke about what the future holds for the brand from Wolfsburg. Inevitably, the discussion turned to electric vehicles and how the push for zero emissions signals the beginning of the end for cars equipped with internal combustion engines. To that end, the boss revealed that VW is almost finished with the launch of new cars with ICE engines.
Later this year, the German brand intends to launch the next-generation Passat (only as a wagon) and Tiguan. A new Tayron (compact crossover for China) will follow in 2024, along with a facelifted T-Roc in 2025. Schäfer says these will be the last new-generation ICE cars and will be available in the 2030s: “T- Roc is the last new combustion engine in Europe that we see on the horizon. Of course, the others get even bigger product updates. But after that there are no completely new vehicles, at least not yet.”
2023 VW Golf GTI 40th Anniversary Edition
6 Pictures
What about the Golf? A “major product update” will be introduced in 2024 to keep the model fresh and competitive until the end of the decade. A ninth generation with petrol/diesel engines is not planned, but VW’s top management is not completely ruling it out: “If the world develops in a completely different way than expected in 2026 or 2027, we may also launch a completely new vehicle. I do. You don’t believe it. So far this is not planned.”
Elsewhere, Schäfer hinted that the end of the Polo is nigh, as the upcoming Euro 7 emissions regulations will make the supermini too expensive after adding a hybrid configuration. He went on to say that it would end up costing almost as much as the 2025 ID.2all and “you have to wonder if that still makes sense” to sell the ICE-powered subcompact hatchback.
A compact electric crossover made in Wolfsburg will launch in 2026 and the man in charge of VW said it could be called the ID. Tiguan. The company intends to keep the iconic names alive in the age of electric vehicles, so the Golf and Tiguan monikers will not be retired after the ICE age. Schäfer said that an electric Golf on the MEB/MEB+ platform is not planned and will only move to the next SSP architecture, so after 2028.
VW intends to sell only electric vehicles in Europe from 2023, two years before a ban on sales of new cars with combustion engines takes effect in the European Union.
