Volkswagen confirms plug-in hybrid Golf, Tiguan and T-Roc coming

Tuesday, 9 March 2021

The Volkswagen Golf is 45 years old - here are the first seven generations, in silver.

Volkswagen has revealed it is developing plug-in hybrid versions of the vanilla Golf, Tiguan and T-Roc as part of its new ‘Accelerate’ product strategy.

The German maker says the new drivetrains will offer up to 100km of electric-only range.

'We will still need combustion engines for a while, but they should be as efficient as possible, which is why the next generation of our core products – all of which are world models – will also be fitted with the latest generation of plug-in hybrid technology, with an electric range of up to 100 kilometers', said CEO Ralf Brandstatter.

There’s already a plug-in Golf coming, but it’s the performance-oriented GTE. Soon, the standard model will get a plug-in version too.

The Golf, Tiguan and T-Roc (as well as not-for-NZ models like the Passat and China-only Tayron) won’t be getting pure-electric powertrains in the near future, however, with that responsibility going to the I.D cars.

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There is a possibility the ninth-generation of Golf will get an electric variant, which could arrive sometime around 2026. We should see the next-generation Tiguan between 2023 and 2025 while the T-Roc won’t get a major update until 2025 or 2026.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen has announced it will increase its share of all-electric sales to more than 70 per cent in Europe and 50 per cent in the USA and China by 2030.

To achieve this, Volkswagen will bring out at least one new BEV model every year. The all-wheel-drive ID.4 GTX will kick things off in the first half of 2021, followed by the sporty ID.5 in the second half of the year. The ID.6 X, also known as ‘Crozz’, a seven-seater electric SUV for the Chinese market, will be launched in autumn.

Finally, Volkswagen's upcoming state-of-the-art all-electric flagship, Project Trinity, is still on track for a launch in 2026. “Trinity will become a kind of time machine for our customers, saving them time and stress. However, this technology must not become the preserve of a select elite, which is why we are scaling it to make it available for many people,” Brandstatter said.

Trinity will ride on the all-new Scalable Systems Platform, offering Level Two+ semi-autonomous driving from the beginning, with fully-autonomous Level Four capabilities to be switched on over-the-air by 2030.It will also have ultra-fast charging capabilities, “as fast as refuelling”.