El Ocho Vocho

I speculated earlier that the eighth-generation Volkswagen Golf, unavailable in base form in the United States and Canada and unavailable in any form in Mexico, might be available in base form in the New World once VW's Mexican factory in Puebla took over production of the venerable hatchback from the home factory in Wolfsburg.  Volkswagen of America president Kjell Gruner spoke on that possibility for the first time ever this past week.

Gruner has become aware that Americans have been asking for more variations of the Golf because the high-performance GTI and R editions are increasingly out of reach - a far cry from the more affordable Golf that Americans remember debuting in 1975 in the States as the Rabbit, when it only cost $2,999 - $18,564 in today's dollars.  The entry-level GTI currently starts at twice that much.  Americans who love Volkswagen still appreciate the practicality and versatility of a hatchback, and they - we - have always been VW's most loyal customers.  With only the Jetta and the Tiguan within reach for many if not most American VW customers, Gruner is certainly interested in reintroducing the base Golf here once production of the car commences in Puebla. The lower costs of production in Mexico - the whole reason the Mark 8 Golf is being made there in the first place - will make such a move possible.

Maybe.  Because right now, cars made in Mexico are subject to a 25 percent tariff, which would make it not impossible to offer the Golf here but would certainly make it difficult.  The profit margins on affordable cars are so thin that it's hard to make much money on them, given the costs that go into developing the cars have been rising thanks to more regulations and more tech.  And Volkswagen of America no longer has larger midsize cars like the Passat and probably not enough SUVs to offset losses on affordable-car sales.  So Gruner would undoubtedly like to see the Mexico tariff reduced to 15 percent, which would put it in line with the import taxes on cars imported from elsewhere.  Will that happen?  That's anyone's guess.

But, given Gruner's desire to keep the Golf and Jetta available in the United States as the souls of the brand, it seems like the base Golf could finally arrive here after all.

Would I buy one?  At this point, probably not.  I've invested lots of money to keep my sixth-generation Golf as new, and I'm wary of getting a new Golf that has more tech than I know what to do with.  I may not want a Mark 8 Golf, but I'd like the opportunity to buy one.  Or, as women always like to say about boyfriends, "I don't want to marry you, but I want you to ask me."  I want Volkswagen to offer me the chance to buy a 2027 Golf in base form, even if I ultimately decide against it.  

But if I can get an eTSI hybrid like the one I rented in Germany last summer, I might be tempted . . ..

No Golf For Us?

A recent report from Automotive News seems to have confirmed earlier rumors that the next generation - the eighth - of the standard Volkswagen Golf will not come to the United States and maybe not even Canada.  Volkswagen of America is said to have definitively told its dealers that the standard Golf and the Golf wagon are being dropped from the lineup here.

The Mark 8 Golf, shown above at a McDonald's (yes, they have McDonald's over in Europe!) during testing, will be made exclusively in Germany, whereas U.S.-spec Golfs of the seventh generation have been made in Mexico.  It's no secret that Mexican-built Volkswagens cost less to bring over here than German-built VWs - no transoceanic shipping, lower labor costs - and with the GTI accounting for 42 percent of Golf sales in America, it's worth it for Volkswagen of America to import it, but after a brief enthusiasm in the sales charts for the base Golf when it debuted in America in the summer of 2014, sales of that car have plummeted, and Volkswagen of America appears to have decided that the car is so expensive, it's not worth bringing over from Wolfsburg.  And Trump's threatened tariffs on all imported cars isn't doing anyone any favors. 

However, the base Mark 8 Golf  could still come to the U.S., because it turns out that it's the best-selling Volkswagen in Canada. That's right, even Canadians like the base Golf better than we do.  But a source close to Volkswagen of America told Automotive News that "if VW Canada can make a business case for the car, it could continue in the U.S. and Canada."  Continued imports of the base Golf to Canada, therefore, would make in convenient for Volkswagen of America to offer the same car south of the 49th parallel.  Volkswagen of America and Volkswagen Canada have traditionally acted in concert with each other, so this is a positive development in an otherwise depressing story.

In the meantime, I chatted with someone online at Volkswagen of America to ask about this story and to express my displeasure with the mere suggestion of canceling the base Golf in America.  She assured me that the 2020 and 2021 model year lineups in America have not been finalized yet and that this media report is wrong.  So there's still hope for the base Golf in America for the eighth generation.  To all my fellow Golf fans, I urge you to keep your fingers crossed day and night that it comes and also go here to contact someone at Volkswagen of America online, or call Volkswagen of America at 1-800-822-8987, 8 A.M. to 9 P.M. Eastern Time, from Monday to Friday, to urge that the base Golf be continued in VW's U.S. lineup.