Some 2028 VW Golf news.

The current VW Golf came out back in 2019. Normally, you would expect a new generation by now. But Volkswagen has been in a state of flux ever since for the past few years, mostly because it hasn’t quite known what to do with EVs. After some hesitation, VW finally settled on calling its electric models “ID,” and then later decided to add famous names behind that badge. Instead of just numbers. Hence the upcoming ID. Polo and ID.Tiguan. (replacing the ID.4)

For a while, it looked like an ID.Golf would replace the Golf altogether. That idea has since been revised.

VW has now confirmed that the ninth-generation Golf will be available with multiple gas and hybrid powertrains. In reality, this means there will be two new Golf models. One will be based on the current car, likely with a heavily updated design, and will continue to use gas and hybrid powertrains. The other will be a fully electric model. Effectively an ID.Golf, based on VW’s new SSP EV platform.

This approach mirrors what other German manufacturers are doing. Mercedes is moving away from its EQ sub-brand and is redesigning its combustion models, mostly on existing platforms. Future EVs will carry familiar names with “Electric” added, rather than standing apart as a separate family. BMW is doing something similar, sticking with the model names ( in their case, numbers), everyone knows and simply adding an “i” to denote electric versions.

In many ways, this is a pragmatic reset. The idea of a clean break between combustion and electric cars sounded good on paper, but reality proved more complicated. EV adoption has been more uneven than expected, and customers still value familiarity, especially in core segments like the Golf. Which is still hugelly popular in Europe.

This strategy will probably work for a while. Eventually, though, if EVs do replace all new models, these extra letters—“i,” “ID,” “Electric,” will become redundant. At that point, they’ll quietly disappear. Electric will no longer need explaining, and the cars will simply go back to being what they always were: Golf, 3 Series, C-Class. No prefixes, no suffixes, just names.