Volkswagen is delaying the rollout of two of its most critical future models, the all-electric Golf and T-Roc. The German carmaker is struggling with rising costs, plant disruptions, and strategic uncertainty regarding its long-term electrification plans.
The battery-powered Golf, initially slated for 2028, won’t arrive before the decade’s end, according to sources familiar with Bloomberg. The compact crossover, presumably dubbed ID. Roc will precede it by a few months, making its debut on VW’s next-generation Scalable Systems Platform (SSP).
Both will be built at VW’s Wolfsburg headquarters, where financial pressure has stalled a costly retooling program preparing for the electric models.
Transition in limbo
As a recap: VW executives and labor leaders agreed last year to shift production of the current combustion-engine Golf to Puebla, Mexico, as early as 2027, freeing up Wolfsburg for EV production.
But that transition is now in limbo. The investment in new tooling and production technology is deferred to a later spending cycle. Insiders say the factory cannot yet be prepared for SSP assembly, prolonging the Mk8’s run in Wolfsburg beyond what was intended.
The delays reflect the mounting strain on VW’s balance sheet. CEO Oliver Blume tries to execute a sweeping restructuring and has pledged €15 billion in cost savings. That figure could grow higher this year if EV demand in Europe keeps slowing and sales in China continue to fall.
“We can only spend the money once,” one manager told German news outlet Handelsblatt. This is good news for Chinese carmakers, who are already expanding their presence by exploiting these delays from legacy carmakers, especially in the affordable segment.
Luckily, Volkswagen is not left hanging dry, as the ID. Polo, which was showcased in disguise at the IAA Mobility and is set to arrive in showrooms next year, will serve as its first line of defense.
Fixing the problems
But the Wolfsburg site itself has emerged as a significant pressure point. Technical failures and equipment breakdowns have repeatedly halted production, resulting in output being thousands of units short each week.
The issues have frustrated workers who were brought in for night and weekend shifts to meet demand. Fixing the problems may require part of the investment budget VW has currently reserved for the window between 2026 and 2030.
The struggles for the Golf are emblematic of VW’s broader challenges. Once the company’s global best-seller, Golf volumes have plummeted from more than 1 million units in 2015 to just over 300,000 last year. This year’s tally could sink closer to 250,000, according to internal documents. The T-Roc crossover has been eating into the hatchback’s sales.
Second life as a PHEV?
VW insists the Golf nameplate will survive as a fully electric “software-defined” vehicle, co-developed with Rivian and underpinned by SSP. But the Mk8 could remain in production well into the next decade, potentially as a plug-in hybrid, depending on how European regulators implement the planned 2035 combustion ban.
Until now, EU commissioner Von der Leyen’s administration has kept its stance firm, but has agreed to an earlier reevaluation of the planned ban. At the same time, the most critical shareholders of the Volkswagen group are pushing from their side to revise the investment for the electrification strategy.
The Porsche-Piëch family has instructed Blume to initiate a search for an external investor for the PowerCo battery unit, which is constructing plants in Germany, Spain, and Canada.
