Golf

Wouldn’t it be great to never again miss a goal scored by your beloved football team – even when you’re driving? This dream scenario for many football fans is now a reality in all new Golf from the 2020 model year onwards: The free “We Score” app delivers live football updates into the vehicle’s cockpit! Users can pre-set three clubs and one national team, and follow their favourites in all competitions. Along with live scores – which football fans will recognise from smartphone apps – standings and football news are also displayed in the app. All this information can also be read out using the “text-to-speech” function.

It’s full speed ahead for the icon of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand, the Golf, since all eight derivatives were made available in the fall of 2020. Last year it was once again the top-selling car in Europe with around 312,000 deliveries The Wolfsburg figurehead was once again the top-selling car in Germany last year, too, with around 133,900 deliveries to customers. “In 2020 the Golf is still exactly where it belongs,” says Ralf Brandstätter, CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars.

Clean and smooth-running – the 2.0 TDI, Volkswagen’s most important diesel engine is now in new top form. Thanks to sophisticated twin dosing technology in the exhaust gas system, it undercuts the Euro 6d emission standard limits while also running quietly and smoothly.

The new Golf is now also available with an environmentally-friendly natural gas drive: the Golf TGI is equipped with a powerful 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine with 96 kW / 130 PS and three natural gas fuel tanks. The tanks are integrated into the underbody and permit a range of around 400 kilometres (WLTP) in pure natural gas mode. The engine of the quasi-monovalent drive system is powered primarily with CNG (Compressed Natural Gas), but can also run on petrol. A reduced-capacity petrol tank serves only as a reserve, but ensures additional range.

From a German perspective, what is the best car in 2021? To find this out, 18 respected motoring journalists from across Germany meet once a year in Bad Dürkheim, a town in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. This year, the German Car of the Year jury voted in favour of Volkswagen in not one, but two categories: the Golf Mk 8 and the fully electric ID.3 each secured the title in their respective classes.

Volkswagen is electrifying the eighth generation of the Golf with two new plug-in hybrid versions: the Golf eHybrid and Golf GTE. This means that no less than two Golf models are now available as plug-in hybrid models for the first time. The Golf eHybrid is designed for maximum comfort and delivers an output of 150 kW (204 PS). Price in Germany: from 39,781.18 euros. With an output of 180 kW (245 PS), the Golf GTE offers outstandingly sporty performance, combining both power and efficiency. Base price: 41,667.40 euros. Sales of both models are starting now. By the end of the year, a total of eight different Golf and Golf Variant models will be available with hybrid drive – the Golf will therefore be the brand’s product line with the greatest level of hybridisation.

The Volkswagen brand dominated the Automotive Brand Contest 2020, securing a total of five awards in the automotive design segment. The ID.3, the all-electric model leading the brand into the future, was named “Best of Best” in no less than two categories. The new Golf and the ID. SPACE VIZZION concept car were also amongst this year’s award winners. The Automotive Brand Contest is the only independent, international design competition for automotive brands.

The new Golf can help drivers to prevent accidents, thanks to its innovative Car2X technology, allowing it to wirelessly connect with other vehicles and the traffic infrastructure. The Euro NCAP consortium gave special recognition to the traffic hazard alert function with the Advanced Award for ground-breaking safety fea-tures. The German automotive association ADAC tested the new technology and declared it a “technical milestone”.

Volkswagen models represent modern functionality and the brand’s typically easy orientation inside the vehicle. With the new Golf, operation is now even more intuitive. A visible and tangible example is the control for the 3-zone automatic air conditioner “Air Care Climatronic”. This newly designed air conditioning system has a Smart Climate menu that can be used to activate specific individual functions such as “Warm feet” or “Clear view” – not only at the press of a button, but also using voice control. The new model is therefore the first Golf to respond interactively to the wishes of the driver and passenger.

On 6 December the Volkswagen brand is starting a new marketing campaign for the Golf 8 in Germany. The claim: ʺLife happens with a Golfʺ. In the first quarter of 2020 the campaign will be rolled out to further countries in Europe. It comprises a total of more than 450 elements, including digital assets, social media content, commercials and out-of-home advertising. The campaign was developed by Voltage, the Volkswagen lead agency for Europe.

The new Golf will shortly come to market with a revolutionary cockpit that is clearer, neater, completely digitalised, and connected online, and that will make operating this bestseller more intuitive than ever.

The Golf is the most successful European car for more than four decades. A new chapter in the history of this best-seller begins today, 24 October 2019, with the world premiere of the eighth Golf – digitalised, connected, and intuitive to operate. Never before has a Golf been so progressive. With hybrid versions launched at the same time, it is electrifying the compact class. Its digital interior enables a new dimension of intuitive operation. Speeds of up to 210 km/h are possible with assisted driving. It is the first Volkswagen to use swarm intelligence from traffic via Car2X, meaning it can warn against hazards on an anticipatory basis. Its world premiere takes place in Wolfsburg, where the Golf was invented, and where it has been built and refined for the last 45 years. The new Golf will be available on the market in December.

This was the Golf generation offering comfort and dynamics that went beyond those of quite a number of competitors within the upper mid-sized vehicle class. The same rang true for quality. A value that underlines the stability of the laser-welded body is that its torsional rigidity had increased by 35 percent in 2003 upon the debut of the Golf Mk5. This also marked the first time that the Golf was optionally available with side airbags in the rear – in conjunction with the standard airbags (front, sides at the front, head-protection airbag) this now meant that eight of these protecting, inflatable pads were on board the vehicle.

Its clear-cut and precise design characterised the brand more than ever before and set the course for the Volkswagen of the future: The Golf Mk 4 was developed in the mid 90s under the direction of the Volkswagen Head Designer at the time, Hartmut Warkuß. Today, design experts consider it a style icon that was pioneering for the product line. This also comes as a result of this particular generation’s uncompromisingly clear-cut lines and the product line’s striking C-pillar design that bridged the gap to the 1974 Golf Mk1.

From August 1991, Volkswagen kickstarted a new era of safety with the third generation of the Golf. The Mk3 Golf was the product line’s first model to be available with front airbags, from 1992, and furthermore, large steps forward in body design also led to significantly improved crash properties. With the Golf Mk3, Volkswagen democratised passive safety, as the improved protection it offered benefited many people.

48 V mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid: Volkswagen is launching five electrified Golf models

In brief: The new Golf – intelligent, connected and electrified